My Favorite Mistake
by Alyson May
Summary: It's been two years since Max saved the world. Two years to grow, change and make mistakes. Mistakes such as getting pregnant at sixteen. But when it's all said and done, will she wish it never happened? Major spoilers. COMPLETE! Fax, Niggy
1. The Mistake Takes Place

**Yo! This is my first Max Ride fanfic, so if it sucks, feel free to tell me!!! FYI, all my stories will be Fax, cuz is there really anyone else Max belongs with? It gets kinda intense, but I think you'll like it. Every chapter is POV Max unless otherwise specified.**

My Favorite Mistake - Title not positive

Chapter One

The Mistake Takes Place

My God. I sat up, eyes wide of shock. It happened. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted Fang to get his ass over here so I could feel safe. But wait a darn minute. You have no idea what I'm rambling about. Let me back up a little bit.

**ONE DAY EARLIER!!!**

"_You're late."_

"_Fang stepped out of the shadows, eating an apple. He was dressed in black, as usual, and his face looked like a lumpy plum pie. But his eyes shone as he came toward me, and then I was running to him over the sand, my wings out in back of me._

_We smashed together awkwardly, with Fang standing stiffly for a moment, but then his arms slowly came around me, and he hugged me back. I held him tight, trying to swallow the lump of cotton in my throat, my head on his shoulder, my eyes squeezed shut._

"_Don't ever leave me again," I said in a tiny voice._

"_I won't," he promised into my hair, sounding most un-Fang-like. "I won't. Not ever."_

I nearly laughed remembering the day. It seemed like so long ago now, as I laid beside Fang, with Iggy supervising the littler kids.

And I felt like laughing again when I realized it _was_ quite a long time ago. Two years ago, actually. That's right. Now I'm 16. Old enough to have my drivers' license! Now when we steal cars, I can legally drive them! Yippee!

Fang and I had been watching a movie together. Actually, we'd been kissing during the movie, so I suggested we start it over and actually watch it. We were watching Click, which we'd bought from Costco on a mega movie sale. Still, even as we were actually interested into the movie, we were so close, I felt his every move. We couldn't help it. When I was 14, I knew I loved Fang just as much as I loved the rest of the flock. Now, I was positive I loved him just as much as I loved the rest of the flock, but in a different way. A sexier, more content way.

The movie ended. Fang used the remote to shut off the TV and looked at me. I looked back, feeling our dark eyes connecting as they had many times before. I breathed quietly, my heartbeat quickening. Without my noticing, both of our faces became closer. Our lips closed the space as we kissing.

His hands found their place on my back. Mine found their place on his neck. He kissed me intensely until we broke apart only quick enough to take a couple deep breaths.

There came a knock on the door. "Yeah," Fang said, still kissing me. I was inwardly surprised at his abilities to multitask. Kissing and talking at once? That takes skill, man!

The person at the door knocked twice more and then said our secret codeword. That told me it was one of the flock. I immediately broke off of Fang. Both of us gasped for breath. "Come in," I managed to say, moving to a less-suspicious position on the motel room bed than I was. I also noticed Fang's shoulders drop as I moved away.

Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel all came in. "Just wanted to let you know we're back," he told us. Fang and I nodded impatiently. The Flock, by now, were used to this. They rolled their eyes (well, not Iggy, of course) and went to the second hotel room we had rented.

I moved back to Fang and lay on his chest. His hands were on my back. I felt safe, protected.

_Oh, now, you know safety isn't your thing,_ the Voice chimed in.

I knew I hadn't been free of the Voice. But a girl can dream, can't she? _Go away, Jeb,_ I thought in reply.

_This can't last,_ Jeb informed me, _you're forgetting your duties._

_My current duty is to myself, _I thought back to him..

_You're actually like a child,_ Jeb snapped.

_So what?_ I said,_ I'm sixteen and – newsflash! – I'm not a child! I'll be a freakin' avian-human hybrid hero tomorrow! Now I'd like to be with my boyfriend!_

_Peachy, _Jeb said sarcastically.

"You're quiet," Fang noticed.

"Not in my head," I told him.

"Talkin' with The Voice?" he asked.

"Yip," I said, "go ahead and call the insane asylum. I'm already expecting Jeb to kill me when I see him again. He's been annoying me for days, telling me I'm getting too obsessed…preoccupied. Sometimes I wish the Voice didn't listen in on everything I say, do, hear or want to say, do or hear."

"Quite the speech writer tonight," Fang laughed.

I laughed with him. _So what, Jeb,_ I thought, _I'm acting like a child, but don't you want a child to be happy? Well, I am! Over the moon, jumping for joy, so incredibly happy! GET OVER IT!!!! _Jeb didn't answer me, of course, but I received the satisfaction I'd been hoping for.

And – yay! – it just kept getting better! Fang and I continued to kiss. And kiss. And kiss and kiss and kiss until we couldn't kiss anymore. And then we kept on kissin'!

We didn't break apart until I was so lightheaded, I felt like I would pass out. Our eyes locked, and I felt weak, possibly from lack of oxygen to the brain and possibly from the feeling Fang had been giving me lately. This stomach-turning, hold-me-before-I-die-of-NotenoughFangitis feeling.

Our dark eyes remained locked until we both felt OK again, a good two or three minutes (thank you speedy recovery bird genes!!!) and we kissed again.

This span of kissing lasted twenty minutes. At that point, Fang buried his head in my hair, right by my ear. He then whispered five words that shocked me so much, my mouth fell open. I shut it and thought back on what he said. Had I heard him right? I think he said, "Max, do you want to?"

Did I want to, though? My initial answer was no, mainly because I heard it hurts bad a girl's first time. But as I thought, I realized I did. I was old enough, I guess. And I really loved Fang. In fact, I couldn't see myself with anyone else. Never would I _ever_ be with anyone else. Ever.

Taking a deep breath in, I whispered my response. I felt all his muscles tense up in anticipation and was shocked when I felt mine stiffen, too. Ooh, boy.

FAST FORWARD

So, there you have it. The morning after we…you know…one of us freaked out and that same one of us pushed the other out the door.

No, it wasn't me! Why would you think such a thing?!

Yes, it was me, OK? I freaked out!

Which puts me where I am now, lying face down on the bed, not wanting to come up. So many things were running through my head now. Here, I'll tell you them!

_What if I get an STD?! No, I can't. Fang was a virgin, too…Was…Oh, shit! What would the others think?! No, I'd never tell them! But what if Fang told?! No, he wouldn't._

At this point, Fang walked in, sending a shiver down my spine (a good one, not a bad one). He sat on the bed beside me. Neither one of us stared the other in the eyes.

"We need to go," he said quietly.

"OK," I said.

"Now," he said, "or else we have to pay a late fee."

"Sure. Do the others know?" I asked, instantly wanting to rephrase my question.

Fang stared at me with eyes that said "No, you dummy! I'm not telling them!"

"About leaving," I clarified. He nodded. I sighed and said, "You know, Angel will find out anyway. One poke into my mind and, boom. Our secret's out."

"Max, we need to talk about this," he said. Whoa. Out of the blue, much?

"No," I said firmly.

"No?"

"I mean, not now," I told him, "Give it time. I need to think about this."

"Later?" he asked.

"Later." He nodded and we left the motel.

**Ha ha ha!!! So, there you go! I'll only post if I get ten reviews!!!**


	2. And it Just Keeps Getting Better!

**Here are my thank yous to those who reviewed!!! Thank you Maxridefan, EdwardAddict, DarkBlade98, xxWiccan-Priestessxx, sunybee, Adam's Song-182, Katie-3llen, maximum-calories, hxcb, streetsista678!!! So, here's the second chapter! Enjoy!!!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Two**

**And it Just Keeps Getting Better!**

Two days passed. No one knew. Fang and I acted as normal as we could around each other, but it was hard.

Finally, Fang left Iggy in charge and took off, grabbing my hand and forcing me to go with him. I half expected it, but it's still hard to fly when you haven't gotten a decent takeoff. We flew into the darkness of the night.

We sat side-by-side in a tree about a mile away. Fang was completely silent. He didn't seem to want to talk. Or hadn't figured out what to say. Tired of this awkwardness between us, I laid my head on his shoulder to tell him I was OK.

"Max?" he said quietly.

"Yeah," I said, not wanting him to tell me to get off.

"You're not mad," he said. It wasn't a question. It was an observation.

"No. Are you?" I asked.

"No. Just…confused," he told me.

"Join the club," I told him. We sat in silence.

Finally, he looked me in the eyes and I was forced off his comfortable shoulder, "So, you're OK? I mean, we're OK? We're not gonna break up or anything?"

"I'm fine!" I told him, answering before he got all his words out, "I don't wanna break up!" I fell silent for a second, and then said in a tiny voice, "Fang, do you want to break up?"

He shook his head no with a wide smile on his face. He pulled me in close for a hug. I held him tight, trying to squeeze the life out of him.

"We should get back to the others," he told me into my hair.

I nodded. We got up and flew off into the night.

The next morning, I woke up in a terrible mood. Probably, I assumed, just me PMSing. I made an excuse and took Nudge with me to buy 'supplies.'

When we got back, Fang, Angel, Iggy and Gazzy had an Eraser attack well at hand. (Itex went back to the basics on their World Domination Plan, so it's Erasers again, not Flyboys) Regardless, I dropped my bag of supplies in the cave and joined right in. There were only fifteen or so left, so it wouldn't last long.

I kicked an Eraser in the head and he crumpled. I smiled to myself and moved on to the next one. I punched it and someone else kicked it's stomach. I looked over, surprised, to see Fang right by my side. I turned and landed a punch across an Eraser's cheek, heard a satisfying _CRACK!_ and moved on.

The Erasers were more or less dead in a few minutes. We worked together to push the bodies out of our cave, and Gazzy ran over to my shopping bag.

"What'd ya buy? What'd ya buy? What'd ya buy?" he pestered, grabbing the bag.

"NOTHING!" I screamed, snatching it from his hands. He grabbed it back and threw it to Fang, shouting, "Open it! Open it!"

Fang laughed and pulled out a plastic package labeled "Kotex." His face got all contorted in disgust and he threw the bag to me. I laughed and threw the bag in my backpack.

"That's what you get!" I yelled.

"You never look in a girl's bag!" Nudge laughed, "You never know what you may find!" We laughed and high-fived.

"Why would you buy that?!" The Gasman shouted.

"Buy what? What did she buy?!" Iggy asked, clueless.

"Pads!" the Gasman answered.

"EW!!!" Iggy shouted.

"You should've seen your faces!" I cracked up.

"Yeah!" Nudge agreed.

"You looked totally grossed out!!!" Angel laughed. We were rolling on the floor by now, all three of us. We couldn't help but laugh.

"Why did you even _buy_ those?!" Gazzy snapped.

"I NEED THEM! I'M A GIRL!!!" I shouted, still unable to control my laughter.

All six of us laughed for what felt like forever. It was the best day I'd had in a long time.

**ONE WEEK LATER**

All those lovey-dovey happy feelings I had are gone now. Long gone. So far out the window I can't see them with my excellent bird eyes. My period didn't come that day.

Or the day after.

Or the day after.

Or the day after.

Now I'm sitting in a tree all alone, with the rest of the flock looking for me. I don't know for certain that they're looking for me, but I've been gone for four days, so it's a good guess.

In fact, I'd flown several hundred miles away. To Arizona. And now I was about a mile away from my Mom's house. I needed to see her, to talk to her. But I couldn't even bring myself to say it.

Night fell and I was still in the same spot in the tree. I realized that no matter what I did, something bad would happen. I had to talk to Mom before the flock found me. I had to, or they'd bring me back and I wouldn't have a chance. Impulsively, I stood and flew to Mom's house. Standing on the lawn, I felt scared and worried. I took a deep breath in and knocked on her door.

Mom answered in her pajamas. I felt tears rush to my eyes before I fell into her loving arms. She took me inside with her and we sat on the couch to talk.

"Is Ella here?" I asked. Ella couldn't be here. Telling Mom would be hard enough. Telling my little sister? Ten times as hard.

"No," Mom answered, as relief flooded through me, "she's at a sleepover."

"Good," I heard myself say, even though I felt I shouldn't. Mom gave me a curious look and I went on, "I might be p…" I couldn't get the words out for the knot in my throat.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

I began to cry, hard. "Sorry," I choked out. Mom took me in her arms and held me as I fell apart before her eyes. Finally, I'd cried all I could cry and I was ready to tell her.

"I had sex with Fang. I'm sorry," I cried, "Don't be mad at me, please!"

"It's OK, sweetie," Mom said, "You love him; I know you do. You don't have to explain yourself to me. God knows we're not all perfect." She smiled reassuringly.

"That's not all," I told her, taking another deep breath, "I should have had my period, like, a week ago. It hasn't come. I know it comes late sometimes, but I'm really, really scared!"

"Baby, it's all right," she cooed, holding me again. I expected her to be angry. I hadn't expected her to understand. "What can I do?" she added quietly.

I was quiet. I knew what I needed, but I didn't want to ask for it. I'm not the kind of person who likes to have to wait for people to get things done. Finally I brought myself to say the words. "In the morning, could you buy me a pregnancy test?" I asked, feeling shame rush over me.

"Of course," she said, smiling, "We'll go first thing."

"Thanks."

She let me sleep on the couch, but it stormed that evening, but I felt weird without my family beside me. I got up and crawled in bed with Mom. She hugged me and told me it would all turn out all right.

When I woke up, Mom was already ready to go. She was dressed, blow-dried, and had made breakfast. I changed into my clothes from the day before (I'd borrowed a large t-shirt to wear to bed) and brushed my hair. Mom had chocolate-chip pancakes ready to eat.

After breakfast, she drove me to the store. We picked out the one that looked most reliable, paid for it and drove back home.

I opened the package carefully, as if it were a bomb. I asked Mom how to use it (Hell, how was I supposed to know?!) and then walked carefully to the bathroom. I walked back out with it in hand. We stared at it as the word began to appear:

PREGNANT

I looked at Mom and Mom looked at me. She was smiling; I don't know why. I was crying again. She threw the test away and wrapped me in a hug as I bawled. I composed myself and we sat together on the couch and watched Thirteen Going on Thirty. Just when Jenna was going back to being thirteen, I heard a knock at the door.

"You get it," Mom told me, "I'm gonna get some more popcorn."

I stood and walked to the door, glancing out of the corner of my eye at my tear-stained face in the mirror. I opened the door, expecting the UPS guy or one of Mom's work friends.

I did not expect the dark-haired, skinny, teenaged boy I saw at the door.

"Hi," I told Fang.

**So there you have it! Now we know Max is pregnant! Dundundun!!! What will Fang say???? Find out! I'll only post if I get twenty reviews!!!**


	3. The Flock Finds Out

**God!!! I just love you guys!!! You wonderful readers! I'm gonna give a couple shout-****outs to reviewers who asked a question and/or I just feel like giving a shout-out to!**

**To Ms.Max.Ride: Yes, Dr. Martinez is MUCH cooler than I make her out to be! She won't be in the story for a while, but will return later in the story.**

**To i.dance.in.the.rain: Yes, mine is different from other pregnant Max stories! I'm not going to point out why because hugz-4-all-the-emo-boyz has one I'm currently hooked on. By the way, I really love your story Confessions and your name is frickin awesome!!!**

**To I'll have some stupid cliché: I don't know if the tests say 'pregnant' or have a color or plus or minus, but I saw one on TV that said pregnant, so I just used that!**

**Alrightythen, you made the requirement! (hell, there were 36 messages in my inbox this morning and only 4 of them were from other people) Here's the third chapter!!!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Three**

**The Flock Finds Out**

"Why did you go?" Fang asked, walking inside and getting right to the point.

"I needed to," I said simply.

"Why?" he insisted. I followed him as he walked to the kitchen, making himself comfortable on a stool.

"Because," I said firmly. It was hard to tell Mom. It would have been harder to tell Ella. Telling Fang would be horrible. I couldn't tell him. I could hide it. 'I'm getting fat,' I'll say, 'I'll go work out more.'

He glanced around the kitchen, his eyes falling on the pregnancy test box lying open on the counter. His eyes darted to me, staring me down and making me feel guilty. "Are you?" he asked.

I didn't answer. I couldn't bring myself to talk to him. I stared directly at a magazine entitled "Good Housekeeping." Absently, I thought about what kind of good housekeeper would leave a pregnancy test box lying around.

"You are?" he cried. "You're…pregnant. With a baby. I'm gonna be a father? But we just did it that one time!"

"That's really all it takes!" I cried. I noticed Mom standing off to the side, ready to defend her daughter.

Fang was speechless. He was staring at the "Good Housekeeping" magazine, too. Once again, I absently wondered if he thought the same thing I had thought. After a while, he stood. He walked to me and held me in his arms. I was shocked at first; Fang was not a huggy person. But then I hugged him back.

He let me go and Mom came in.

"Will you be OK?" Mom asked, "Out there, on your own?"

"We'll be fine," I assured.

"You should see a baby doctor," Mom told us, "You really should. They help."

"Thanks for the thought, but I'm not sure that would help our situation," I brought my wings out just enough to be seen. Mom nodded.

"Oh, wait!" she said, "Here." She handed me a book entitled "Just Enough Knowledge about Pregnancy." "It'll tell you everything you want to know but not all the gross details. Come see me in a while, please."

"I will," I promised. I hugged her tight.

"All of you," she added, reaching out a hand to shake with Fang's.

Fang rolled his eyes while smiling and hugged her. Mom smiled wide.

"Tell Ella for me, please," I smiled at Mom reassuringly.

"We should go," Fang said, "The others are waiting." He took my hand and together we walked out the door.

We flew a few miles away so we were alone. Fang hugged me again, and this time I wasn't afraid to cry into his t-shirt.

"I'm scared," I told him.

"I know," he said, "Me, too." I was surprised to hear his honesty, but it made me love him even more. I squeezed him tight.

"We should get back to the others," he repeated.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said quickly, not wanting to let go.

He released me and looked deep in my eyes. "C'mon," he said. We flew to the others.

**POV Angel**

"Max is here!" I cried.

"I don't see anything!" Nudge snapped.

"She's still a long way away. But I can hear her thoughts," I explained, "She's scared. I don't know why." That was a lie. I knew _exactly_ why. She was pregnant. Fang was the father. She was worried about what we would say. She was scared for her baby. And she was scared for our safety.

**POV Max**

Everyone was shouting my name. I had mixed feelings about returning. Part of me was sad because they'd want to know why I'd left. They'd know eventually, anyway, but I didn't want to tell them. Part of me was happy. I'd missed my family.

After our group hug, Angel asked the question I'd wished never would come up, "Why did you go?!"

"Um, sweetie, it's hard to explain," I said. But Angel was speaking in my head.

_I know all about it,_ she told me inside my head.

_Baby, I'm so sorry if I let you down,_ I told her.

_You didn't let me down,_ she said, _you could never let me down._

"The bottom line is," I told everyone, glad Angel already knew, "I'm pregnant with a baby."

Nudge's, the Gasman's, and even Iggy's eyes opened wide. Angel smiled wide and said, "Congratulations, Max!"

"Yeah!" Nudge said, with a huge smile on.

"Who's the father?" Iggy asked.

I looked at Fang, pleading for him to say it, not me.

"I am," Fang said.

"You'll be a good mom!" Nudge said.

"I know you will!" Angel answered.

"You're a good mom to us," the Gasman reasoned.

Everyone hugged me then hugged Fang. They all seemed happy about it now.

I still wasn't happy about it. I was scared. I tried to block it out of my mind so Angel couldn't sense it, but I was way freaked out. The others were getting excited about it.

"Do you want a boy or girl?" Nudge asked both of us.

"I don't care," I smiled, "as long as he or she is a good fighter." Fang sent me an 'it's OK' smile. I sent him a 'no, it's not' glance back.

"Do you think it'll have wings?" Angel cried, "That'd be so cool!!!"

"I think it will," I said, "I mean, both Fang and I have avian DNA in our DNA."

"What will you name it?" the Gasman said.

"I don't know," I laughed, feeling weird about how happy the others were about my being pregnant, "I haven't given it much thought."

"I like Aaron," the Gasman said.

"Yeah, and that could be a girl, too!" Nudge pointed out, "You know, you have Aaron, A-A-R-O-N, for a boy, or Erin, E-R-I-N, for a girl!" I personally liked Aaron for a boy, but not Erin for a girl.

"Do you think the people at the School know?" Iggy asked, his voice louder than the rest so everyone could hear him.

Everyone fell silent. Finally Fang spoke. "Why would they?" he said, "Max doesn't have the chip in her arm anymore." Everyone's eyes (except Iggy's) looked at my arm. I kind of pulled it against me so they couldn't see the nasty scars all up and down it.

"But the Voice seems to know everything that's said," I said, "So even if it can't tell what's going on with my body, it certainly can read my thoughts or hear my words."

Everyone mentally connected the dots, but the Gasman apparently felt a need to say it out loud, "And since the Voice is Jeb, if he's still with Itex, they'll know."

As if on cue, the Voice chimed in, _Congratulations, Maximum Ride._

_Thank you,_ I said, taken aback with his comment. I mouthed, "the Voice" to the others, and walked away from their noise. It made it hard to pay attention to the conversation in my head when there are five other people speaking over one another about you.

_How do you feel?_ Jeb asked.

_Oh, just great, Jeb. I feel amazing about being knocked up. It's a wonderful feeling to know my first child will be before I'm even twenty, _I said sarcastically.

_You're sixteen years old, Max, _Jeb said, _You've been a mother to your flock since you were, what, ten? So this is the real deal. You'll do fine. You've got your family to help you. And who could ask for a better father to have than Fang?_

I thought about what he said. I was flattered about the first part, but not sure about the second. _How do you figure Fang will be the best father possible?_

_He's protective over his flock. He will love your baby and protect it no matter what,_ Jeb told me. I looked at my stomach. I didn't want to have a baby. I was scared. I tried my best to forget about how scared I was so Jeb couldn't sense it, but it was hard. After a long silence, Jeb sighed and said, _I know you're scared, Max. But it'll all be OK, I swear._

I tried to change the subject, _Jeb, are you still with Itex?_

But there was no response. I protectively wrapped my arms over my belly. Fang noticed and came over. He wrapped his arms around me: one across my shoulders and the other around my waist. I leaned my head on his shoulder and I smiled a little.

"I'm gonna be a momma," I informed him, "and you're gonna be the best daddy ever."

He showed the slightest hint of enjoyment. "The flock's right. You will be a great mom," Fang told me.

"I hope so," I said quietly. I didn't speak for a while, but then felt a need to say something, "Fang?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He sighed and kissed the top of my head, "I love you, too."

**Everyone at the same time, now: "Awwwwwww!!!!" So, there you go! Chapter three is up! These chapters will be goin' up pretty fast, because it's summer, so I have nothing to do!!! OK, you guys don't need a requirement of reviews! Just review goddamnit!!!**


	4. Three Months Later

**If it's not obvious by the title, this chapter is three months later than the last one. Enjoy!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Four**

**Three Months Later**

Fang was stroking my hair, with his free arm protectively around my waist. Angel and the Gasman were sound asleep, lying close by the rest of us. Iggy was playing mancala with Nudge, who was losing badly to Iggy.

A hawk flew by outside the cave entrance. A shotgun fired and the hawk fell downward.

Before I knew it, the cave entrance was clogged with Erasers. The four of us who were awake shot to our feet. I ran to the Gasman and Angel and shook them awake. "Erasers!" I told them, "Up and at 'em!" They jumped to their feet, fully awake. They fight faces were on immediately.

Violence broke out. The Erasers were slowly closing the gap between us and the back of the cave. I became increasingly nervous for my baby.

I punched an Eraser in the head, but my strike wasn't as hard as it used to be. The Eraser, only angered by the punch, kicked my stomach. I crumpled to the ground, wrapping my arms around my stomach. Worry filled my mind. Maybe I should see a baby doctor. What if my baby died because of that?! The Eraser kicked me over and then kicked my head, over and over.

I was losing consciousness quickly. I tried to remain awake, but it was hard. I felt nausea wash over me, and puked all over the Eraser's boot. He cried out in anger and kicked my head more. And that's the thing last I remember.

**POV Fang**

My heart pounded as I scanned the scene for Max. Where the hell was she?! Usually she was kicking ass! Every Eraser she saw typically fell to the floor, dead or severely injured. This should be that much easier since this batch of Erasers were weaker than the rest. But yet I saw no Max, and no falling Erasers.

Angered and worried for Max, I felt adrenaline rush through my veins. I knocked down the Eraser I was battling with one punch and hurried to where I last saw Max. An Eraser was kicking her head repeatedly. I lunged at him. I punched him upside the head and turned to Max.

"Angel!" I cried out. Angel appeared by my side.

"What?" she said. She saw Max and her eyes widened.

"I need you to stick here and kill these Erasers while I check on Max," he said.

"I'm not nearly as strong as you or Max, though!" she cried.

"Use your mind!" I ordered. She turned and began to kill the Erasers with her head. Several dropped at once, and I gave mentally gave her kudos.

"Max!" I cried, desperately wishing for her to wake up, "Get up! Come on!"

It fell silent, and when I turned, there were no Erasers left standing. Iggy, Nudge and the Gasman were already working to clear out the bodies. Angel was sitting, exhausted from killing all the Erasers.

"Max," I said quietly. I moved her to a different position on the cave floor. The others surrounded me.

"She's not thinking anything at all," Angel told us, "No dreams, nothing."

"She'll be OK," I told everyone, sounding surer than I felt, "Now, you guys need your sleep. I'll take the first watch." They all found a place on the floor, and were all out within minutes.

Being the only one awake sucks more than you'd think. I had all the time in the world to worry. I was desperately hoping Max would be OK. If she wasn't, I'd die. I also wondered if our baby was alright.

The hours passed slowly. I went online and wrote on my blog, but I didn't say about Max's being pregnant. I told them there'd been an Eraser attack which left Max incredibly injured. After three sentences, I put it up online.

I leaned my head against the wall and opened up Solitaire on the screen. After playing it five minutes, I closed it. I suck at Solitaire. I glanced at Max. Her eyelids were fluttering. They weren't open, but it meant she was not dead. I shut down my computer and set it off to the side.

I crawled over to Max and brushed her hair out of her face. She opened her eyes just to see my hand stroking down her face.

**POV Max**

"Fang?" I said quietly.

"I'm here," he said to me. His voice sounded so great.

"My head hurts," I said, reaching it up to find large bumps on my head. I sat up straight, feeling pain down my back.

"I know," Fang said, "That Eraser kicked your butt pretty good. How's your stomach?"

"Just like normal," I said. I placed a hand on it and felt something hit it. Not on the outside. On the inside. "Oh, my God! I think I just felt a kick!"

"Let me feel!" Fang said. He placed his hand on my stomach and we both felt another kick and another. Then he said, "I don't feel anything."

"Oh, wait. That was just my stomach growling," I said, "I need to eat more."

Fang laughed. "Besides the headache and you stomach, do you feel alright?" he asked.

"I think I might have a concussion, but the only reason I puked, I think, was because of morning sickness," I said, "Otherwise, I'm fine."

"Good," was all he said. I sighed.

"I'm tired," I said.

"Go to sleep," Fang told me, "I'll keep watch."

"No," I complained, "I want to keep you company! I don't want you to be all alone!"

Fang chuckled as only he could, "You're pregnant. You need your rest. Both you and our baby need their rest. Come on. Just knowing you're OK is company enough for me."

I scooted so my head lay on Fang's lap. He stroked my hair, and I fell into a peaceful sleep.

**At Itex:**

The Director stood from her seated position. She was getting angry, "Did any one of you manage to eliminate _any_ of the flock members?"

The Erasers stared all shook their heads slowly, regretfully.

"Well," the Director continued, "Did anyone even _hurt_ a flock member?"

A male Eraser stood, addressing himself as Rik. The Director recognized him as one of the Erasers who stood out to her during their training sessions. "I knocked Max to the ground," he said, "It was easier than usual."

"What attack tactics did you use?" the Director inquired. All eyes turned to him.

"I kicked her stomach," Rik said, "She fell to the ground, holding her waist like there's something wrong with it. She puked on my boot." He recalled, wincing, "Then I kicked her head over and over for like five minutes. Finally Fang came over and kicked my ass."

"She fell over when you kicked her stomach?" the Director said, surprised, "We didn't create her to be that flappable. Are you sure that's all you did?"

"Yes, Director," Rik answered, sitting down, "She probably ate something that upset her stomach."

"That's reasonable," the Director said, "I bet that's all that happened."

A female Eraser stood and addressed herself as Is. "I think it's more," Is said.

"Yes?" the Director said, "And what do you think is the cause?"

Is looked around, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "I think," Is said, "I think she's pregnant."

"Pregnant?" the Director said, "No, no, child! She's certainly not _pregnant!_ We didn't add that into Max!" She laughed. Following by example, the rest of the Erasers laughed, too.

"She's ninety-eight percent human," Is pointed out, "In that ninety-eight percent, don't you think it _might_ be possible?"

Rik stood again, "But she fell when I kicked her stomach! She was holding it tight, like she wanted to protect it. Then she puked! What if that was morning sickness?"

The Erasers stopped laughing, paying close attention to every word the Director said. "Pregnant…" the Director said, "She could be, I suppose. Pregnancy means a baby. A baby means another chance to get the Angel Experiment right." She nodded, "Yes, pregnant. Perfect!" She then went into Order Mode, barking orders to the Erasers, "All right! I want every Eraser ready to strike! We're going to build up our army! We're going to strengthen and be ready to get Max back!" The Erasers cleared out of the room.

"Pregnant," the Director smiled, "So Max wasn't a failure after all."

**I'm probably going to speed things up now since I have to get through five more months, pregnancy and then the kid's life. I don't know how long this will be. It could end after the pregnancy or after the first years of the baby's life, or it could go all the way through the teen years. We'll see! Regardless, ten more reviews or no fifth chapter!**


	5. Capture

**Thanks for reviewing! I don't have much to say except…no…I really have nothing to say……**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Five**

**Capture**

Another two months passed. Now I was five months pregnant. Over halfway! Yay!

An Eraser attack happened the day I felt the first kick. But this one was more exciting. I stood up, ready to fight.

Five Erasers came at me. I punched one in the nose, and he crumpled to the ground. One of the remaining Erasers grabbed my wrist as I attempted a punch then held it. I struggled against it, but he was incredibly strong. I couldn't move. I was stuck, therefore screwed.

I realized this was the same Eraser who had kicked my head that time last time. I began to get very nervous.

"Fang!" I shouted. Fang appeared, but was blocked by twenty or thirty Erasers. He began furiously knocking them over, but to no prevail. More just kept coming.

The Eraser holding me began to pull me out of the cave. I struggled against him, kicking and screaming for the flock.

"Hi, Miss Max," he sneered, "How's life here?"

"Let me go!" I cried, throwing a punch at him with my opposite hand. He evaded it easily and smiled a sinister smile.

"Now, why would I do that?" he asked, "You're so pretty, I may just hang onto you forever." The Eraser nearly had me out of the cave now, into an awaiting helicopter.

"FANG!!!" I shouted.

"I'm gonna get to know you so well in these next months," the Eraser continued. Where the hell was Fang?!

I struggled more as the Eraser lifted me and carried began to walk toward the helicopter.

"FANG!!!!!!!" I yelled, near tears.

Fang emerged out of the sea of Erasers. He grabbed my hand and pulled, but my hand was sweaty from the fight, so he didn't have a good grip. The Eraser pulled me hard away from Fang and kept walking. Fang jumped at him and almost took him down, but instead was thrown to the side.

"FANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed again. Tears began to fall from my eyes as I lost hope.

Fang was so furious he was scary. He ran at the Eraser one last time as he walked into the helicopter, but the Eraser threw out his fist and stopped Fang dead in his tracks.

"MAX!!!!" he yelled, surrounded once again by Erasers.

"FANG!!!!!!!" I shouted back at him.

Fang stood and ran at the helicopter. The Eraser holding me threw into the helicopter and I hit my head on the wall…

And…

Darkness.

**POV Fang**

The Eraser tossed Max into the helicopter and climbed in with her. The rest of the Erasers began to clear the cave, jumping off the cliff. Now it was just us five. And I'm not sure the rest of the flock knew what just happened.

"Report," I said.

"I'm good," Iggy said.

"Fine," Angel said.

"My lip ith swollen, but that'th it," the Gasman said.

"I'm fine," Nudge said.

I nodded, "Good." I didn't know what to say. I'm not exactly a wordy person.

No one else spoke for a while. I sat against the cave wall and began to think of a way to save Max. They all relaxed around the cave. Nudge and Iggy leaning against the wall, Angel sitting in the middle on the floor and the Gasman crisscross applesauce beside Iggy.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, but finally I heard Angel say quietly, "Where's Max?"

I sighed. "The Erasers took her away. To the School, most likely," I said.

"We've gotta go get her!" Nudge said, standing up.

"How?!" Iggy said, cutting into my response, "Go catch up with the helicopter? We fly fast, but they've got a head start. There's no way we can catch them."

"We've gotta try!" Nudge said.

"We will," I said, "But we can't just randomly go and say, 'Hey, you kidnapped my friend, will you give her back, please?' No! Not how it works!!!"

"We need a plan," the Gasman said.

"_Now_ you're thinking," I said, "A plan, yes. Ideas?"

"I've gotta get close," Angel said, "I think I can talk telepathically to Max from about a mile away. I'm going." She said, standing up, "You can't stop me." I noticed tears in her eyes. What would Max say to not make things worse?

"You're not going alone," I ordered, "It's not safe." I paused, seeing hurt and understanding in her eyes, "We'll all go. We'll find a place a ways away; far enough away not to be noticed, close enough for Angel to communicate with Max."

"When are we gonna leave?" Nudge asked.

"Well," I answered, looking around at their weary faces, "Now."

**POV Max**

I woke up feeling annoyed, frustrated and alone. I smelled the floor cleaner, the alcohol, and the rubber gloves. I realized I was at the School. The worst place in the world for me to be.

A whitecoat walked in the door, wearing a smile. I locked my jaw and turned my attention away.

"I give you my greatest congratulations," he smiled, "You're the best success we've ever had!"

"I'm not a success," I snapped, "I'm a person!!! A person who would like to get back to her family! So you can take your frickin' congratulations and stick it where the sun don't shine, asshole!"

"Crabbiness will come with pregnancy, so I forgive your short temper," he said understandingly, "We need to take some tests. Be sure you and your baby are healthy."

He stuck a needle into my arm and drew some blood. He left the room with it and then came back. "You're healthy!" he smiled, "Now we need to look at the baby. We'll see whether the heart is beating, and whether the baby is a boy or girl."

He went and looked to see if the baby was a boy or girl.

"You're going to have a little girl!" he told me, "She's perfectly healthy and should be born a couple months earlier than normal."

"A couple months earlier? Why the hell will my baby be born so soon? Is she _specialer_ than other babies?"

"No, she's not _more special_ than other babies. Most women have their babies in nine months," the whitecoat said, "But you're different. You heal faster, move faster, your heartbeat's faster. It's only logic that your baby will be born sooner than normal."

"So, how long? Today? Tomorrow? Tell me, before I make you learn what a pathetic waste of air you really are!" I retorted.

"In one to two months," he answered, "So, in one to two months, this clinic will have a new baby to raise and you'll be free to go! But we'll have to run some tests to be sure you'll be OK!"

Oh, boy, did _that_ get me pissed. They were going to take my baby and send me off? No way in _hell_ I was gonna let _that_ happen!

"I'm hungry," I snapped.

"Of course," he smiled, "Any cravings?"

"Yeah," I told him, "Whitecoat Surprise. You wanna know what's in that?"

"I'll get you a burger," he said, sounding a little scared. He left.

I dropped my head on the table. It was then I realized he'd left me unstrapped. I sat up and went to the computer in the room.

I logged onto Fang's blog and wrote him a message. I named it FANG! IT'S MAX!!! OPEN IT NOW!!!

_Fang! I'm fine but I won't be fine if you don't get you ass down here! Come get me, NOW!! I want to get out of here!!!! Save me before I go crazy here!!!!! 'Cause seriously, this place will make me loopier than Valium!!! Max_

But, wait a minute. These people _really_ wanted to steal my baby away. That means they want a _healthy_ baby. Which means they need the mother to be healthy too. I sighed, realizing these people could take very good care of me and make sure my baby is born healthy and safe. Regretfully, I erased my message and wrote a new one.

_Fang, I'm at the School. I'm fine, and I think they'll treat me OK because THEY WANT TO TAKE MY BABY!!! Don't come yet. I think the baby will have better chances of being born healthy if I stay here. I'm not lying. I've made up my mind. Come in one month unless I tell you otherwise. Hopefully I'll be able to email later. If not, COME IN ONE MONTH!!! I'll see ya later! Tell the flock I'll miss them. THEY'RE GONNA LET ME GO AFTER I HAVE THE BABY!!! Love, Max_

I sent it off and went back to the bed. I couldn't believe I'd told him not to come. He'd be hurt by what I said, but they could help my baby. I was sure.

The scientist came back with a tofu burger that tasted like cardboard. Yummy.

**POV Fang**

I checked my email that night and found an email from Max. I was shocked that she'd had the chance to write and email. I didn't know there was email in hell.

But I couldn't believe what she wrote. She told me not to come. Not to save my girlfriend and baby. I didn't understand at first, but then I figured she was thinking solely about the wellbeing of our baby. They would treat her well there, and after she had it, she'd escape and she'd be ready for life with the baby and the rest of us.

But what if she didn't escape, part of me thought.

There was no if. She _would_ escape. She and the baby would escape.

**Mwa ha ha!!!! Max is in trouble!!! Or is she??? Will she escape??? Or will she die trying??? Ha ha ha!!!**


	6. Conversations

**Here you go!!! Well, I really have nothing to say, so I'll cut the smalltalk and just get to the story.**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 6**

**Conversations**

**POV Fang**

When I woke up the next morning, I felt like shit. I'd checked my email during the first night watch, so it's not like I was gonna wake everyone up to tell them we're not going to get Max.

I didn't want to be the one to tell them. But Max wasn't here to do it, so I guess that leaves me.

I slept bad the night before; that didn't help, but it was hard to sleep knowing Max was in hell.

Iggy was already awake, since he and I had been the ones doing the watch on and off all night. He was making breakfast over a campfire. Smoked Bunny, my favorite.

Angel, Nudge and the Gasman woke up within half and hour. I had to tell them. If I didn't now, never would.

"Guys," I said quietly, "we're not going to get Max."

"What!" they all said at the same time.

"Why?" Nudge snapped.

"She told me not to," I explained, "She emailed last night. She said she thought the baby would be healthiest if she stayed there. We'll come in a month."

"I'm going to get closer," Angel said through the noise of voices competing to argue with me, "So I can talk to her telepathically."

"You're not going alone," I ordered.

"So, we'll all go," Nudge said.

I shook my head, "Too suspicious. Only two. The rest of us will be nearby. Angel, you should check on her everyday. We need to be sure she's gonna be OK."

"When do we leave?" Iggy asked.

I stood up and began to pack our campsite, "After breakfast."

**POV Max**

It was eight AM according to the clock in my room when I first had contact with Angel. I didn't expect it, so I jumped when I heard her voice in my head. It was hard to hear, so I figured she was very far away.

_Max, _was all I heard at first.

_Angel! _I responded.

And then…nothing. God! Hurry up and get here! I missed my baby so much!

A half hour later I heard Angel's voice again, crystal clear this time. _Max! Are you OK?_

_I'm fine,_ I told her, _They're treating me great here. But they want to take my baby after she's born._

_She?_ Angel asked, _It's going to be a she?_

_Yes,_ I answered her, _Tell Fang, please. It's going to be a girl._

_Already done, _Angel assured me, _So, you're OK?_

_I should be outta here in a month or two. It turns out it's not gonna take the full nine months. The doctor says it should take six or seven! _I couldn't believe how excited I sounded, but if you couldn't guess, being pregnant really wears you out.

_What will happen after the baby is born?_ Angel asked.

I paused, tears coming to my eyes, _They're gonna take my little girl. They're going to take her and send me off packing. They don't care about me. They only want my baby. To research. To give the same terrible childhood I had._

_Max, that won't happen, _Angel promised, _it won't._

And just as quick as she had come, she was gone. And – even better! – the Eraser who'd take me walked in the door, wearing the same smirk he'd been wearing when he took me.

"Maxie, Maxie, Maxie," he said, "I'd hate to be you right now."

"You're lucky these straps are here," I told him, "Or else you'd be in such pain, you'd _wish_ I'd kill you."

The Eraser leered even more at me. "I wouldn't say that, Maxie," he raised one clawed finger and stroked it across my cheek, slicing through my skin and drawing a surprising amount of blood. He brought his face close to mine and spoke in such a way that he spit on me with every word, "They don't care about you. They don't care if I slice you," he cut my upper arm with his claw, "or dice you," he clawed my other arm now, "or cut you up into itty bitty pieces," he brought his claw over my throat, barely touching it, but touching it enough to give me the heeby-jeebies, "as long as I don't hurt," his hand moved to my stomach, "your pretty little baby girl." He poked my stomach with every word, and I had to fight hard to not wince.

"Say all you want, Eraser," I said, "I don't give a fuck what you say!"

"Call me Rik," he teased, "and you don't have to give a fuck what I say. The pain in your eyes is enough to make me happy. And after your baby is born, killing you will be such a pleasure."

Killing me?! I thought they were going to let me go! _Of course_ not. _Of course _they were going to kill me. Perfect opportunity, right?

"Death, bird girl," he said, coming even closer, "Death. Bloody and slow."

He laughed and walked out the door, leaving me with my fright.

_Max, you need to leave now, _I heard.

And now _Jeb_ had to come? Perfect! A perfect end to a perfect day!

_OK! You call Angel and I'll gladly leave. You don't happen to have her on speed-dial, too, do you?_

_Max…_ Jeb started.

_What can I do, Jeb?! I'd go if I could, but I am currently in major trouble!!! They can do whatever they want to me now, but after my daughter is born, boom, I'm dead, _I said. I felt like crying.

_Max, the flock left. They're not close anymore. They had to find a town. I found them last night and I think I scared them off. They saw me, and then up, up and away! They were gone!!!_ Jeb sounded genuinely sorry, _You can't contact Angel anymore._

_Well, thanks for bringing me only the good news, Jeb! That's just wonderful to hear. Now, if you don't mind, I need my rest so I can birth a healthy baby for someone to torture. Goodnight!_

I turned on my side, feeling abandoned and alone. Rik would kill me now if he could. He'd kill me happily. Me and my baby both.

Geez. Talk about a new kind of abortion…

**Little bit of pressure from Rik, there! Hahaha! Remember Is from chapter four? Well, I'm not sure, but I might have her play a part later in the story. I don't know. Hey! Review and tell me whether you think I should or not!!!!**


	7. Pain in Many Ways

**Sorry it took me so long to update. I was busy. I'm doing cross country as a fall sport and I'm working on getting in shape…which means 3 miles yesterday and today and sprints tomorrow.**

**ANYWAYS, this is the one where Max has her lovely baby. But, I promise, it's not gross. Read paragraph 3 if you don't believe me. FYI, you guys gave me a GREAT idea for the later chapters. Is will be returning. Oh, and for you people who don't remember who Is is, reread the part in chapter four where Itex found out Max is pregnant.**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Seven**

**Pain in Many Ways**

I spent a whole month in the School. I was desperate and horribly tired all the time, even though I slept a hell of a lot more than I should.

I'd been hurt badly before, both physically and emotionally. But never, _never_ had I prepared for the excruciating pain of having a child.

I'll spare you the gory details and get straight to the point.

"Push, push, push," a doctor was saying, "A little more, a little more…and! Congratulations!!! This is the twentieth successful experiment we've had, so her name is going to be Twen!"

Twen? You've got to be kidding me. No. My baby's name is NOT Twen. Twen? What the hell is that? Not a name, not even a _word. _That's worse than naming your baby Apple or Blanket or any inanimate object. No, but baby was not named Twen. I decided to wait until Fang was there to give my baby a name.

They laid my baby in my arms (not Twen, not Twen, not Twen) and I cradled her. Suddenly there was a _boom!_ I almost allowed myself a smile. Me and my baby (not Twen!) were about to be free. My baby was about to see her father and get her name (which would not be Twen).

But then my baby was snatched from my hands and taken away. I stood and flew after the man who took her. I stopped in front of him and punched him HARD. The baby fell and I caught her.

And there was my family, coming in to save me. I saw Angel and passed the baby to her, "ANGEL! GET OUT OF THE BUILDING! FLY UP AS HIGH AS YOU CAN!!!" Angel obeyed, flying past my ear and out of the whole in the ceiling.

I felt claws rake my back as I turned to face Rik. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Maxie," he snorted, "You'll never escape alive. You're not healthy enough."

"I'm damn better now that I'm free to kick your ass!" I shouted at him, swinging a punch and hitting him across the cheekbone. But he was right, in a way. I wasn't as strong as I could have been.

He opened a door behind me and shoved me in, coming in with me and locking the door behind him.

"Looks like you're all alone, Maxie," he smirked.

"No," I snapped, taking a swing at his chest and landing it perfectly, hearing a _CRACK!_ as his ribs broke, "I'm never alone."

Rik walked over to me and pushed my shoulders so I tripped over a chair and fell on my head (ow).

He jumped over the chair I just tripped over and began to punch my head, so I flew back and hit my head again, this time on a desk. I tried to stand, but he swung his legs under mine so I tripped and fell flat on my face.

He kicked my stomach, laughing at me sinisterly, "I can hurt you all I want, any way I want, for as long as I want. You're no use to Itex anymore."

His words seemed useless to me, and it was now that I felt the strength to stand. "You're a pathetic waste of breath," I told him, "And they're using you. You're exactly like me!" I swung a punch at him, catching him up the chin.

He seemed shocked at first, but then he swung back, hitting my gut and knocking the wind out of me, "How's that?!"

I caught my breath and choked out the words, "After they're done with you, you'll be _gone_. They'll kill you. They've done it before. They'll do it again."

His claws were on my arms, scratching up and down, up and down. "No, they won't," he said, "I'm their best success."

"So was Ari," I said, remembering Jeb's son, "But look what happened to him!" I tripped Rik and he fell to the ground.

"I'm stronger than Ari!" Rik said, trying to stand.

"You're exactly like Ari!" I told him, holding him down with one foot, "Ari was angry! He wanted nothing more than to kill _me!_ He never thought about anything else, but he was phased out! The people at Itex didn't give a second thought about how strong he was! All they knew is that they could do better, and they did!"

I became aware of the voices outside the door. It was Fang, shouting my name, telling me to come so we could leave. I kicked Rik hard and began to walk away.

Fang was making motions. It looked like the 'safe' signal in baseball, but his mouth was saying, 'no.' I turned to see Rik tackle me. He pinned me to the floor so I couldn't move at all and began to punch me.

"You're trash!" he shouted, "You're trash and so is your stupid baby!!!" With every word, he punched me across my face. But I didn't hear him. What he said was no use to me. I was listening to Fang. He was trying to open the locked door. He rammed his shoulder into it, and I felt the room shake, but the door did not open.

Now Rik was scratching my face with his claws.

BANG!!! Fang rammed against the door.

Now Rik was bashing my head against the floor.

BANG!!! Fang rammed against the door.

Now Rik was punching my chest over and over.

BANG!!! Fang broke the door off its hinges and ran to Rik, tackling him.

I stood and cleared out of the way, my wings out just a little bit so I was ready to fly. Fang punched Rik HARD. Rik pushed Fang away and ran at me. He grabbed my wing and pulled it towards him, bringing a knife from his pocket. He held it to my throat.

"Maxie, you're gonna die today," Rik told me, "You can't get around it. And I'm going to be the one to do it. And your little boyfriend is going to be here to watch you die. We'll have a little party. We'll invite Angel and Nudge and Gazzy and Iggy. We'll even find Mrs. Martinez and Ella so they can see you take your last breaths."

Fang took a step closer and Rik drove the knife into my thigh. I fought to remain conscious, but you have no idea how hard that was. Pain surged from my thigh to my toes to my brain. Every part of my body was either numb or in pain. I fell limp, depending on Rik to hold me up.

"You're gonna kill her yourself?" Rik asked, "I like it. A new twist."

I stared at Fang, begging him with my eyes not to take another step.

At that moment, Iggy and Nudge came in the door. I assumed the Gasman was in the sky with Angel and my daughter. I hated them seeing me at my worst.

"Hey, guys, come to join the party?" Rik asked.

"Fang, what's going on?" Nudge asked.

"He's got a knife to her," Fang said for Iggy's benefit, "He's going to kill her if any one of us takes a step too far."

They walked up close to Fang and stopped. They were whispering to one another and it took all I had not to shout out, "Tell me!"

Then, to my horror, they backed out of the room and Rik resumed beating the crap out of me.

**Hope you all enjoy the cliffy!!! There will be another Maximum Ride story up after I finish this one. I would have them both going at the same time, but that will SERIOUSLY confuse me, so I just won't. Sorry it took so long for me to post, but I didn't realize how many reviews there were.**


	8. Sweet and Sour Moments

**Well, I got 19 reviews since yesterday, so I think you guys deserve a new chapter… I'm gonna make a few shoutouts, and then you can read the story.**

**To Axel Cutlass: Haha! Your right! Itex isn't creative with names! But, trust me, the baby's name is NOT Twen. Seriously, do you think Fang and Max would let their baby be named TWEN? I don't think so.**

**To caffeinatedlackey: Thank you for the creative criticism. I read the chapter over and it did make it seem distant. I will rewrite some of the fighting scenes and make them more realistic, but I have to admit, usually I write romance stories, not action, so I'm not used to having to write fight scenes. Some pointers would be greatly appreciated.**

**Shall we:-)**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Eight**

**Sweet and Sour Moments**

After a couple minutes, they all ran in again. Iggy and Fang grabbed hold of Rik and held him. The two of them together was strong enough to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Nudge ran to me and helped me to stand. I walked to Rik and punched him hard, just once. He blacked out from my punch and Fang and Iggy threw him off to the side, not afraid to let him crash into a few things.

"Let's go," I choked out. I jumped and tried to fly, but faltered and crashed to the ground, unconscious from lack of blood.

Whoops.

**POV Nudge**

Poor Max! I felt so bad for her; Rik had done some serious damage. Fang picked her up in his arms and we left together. We met Angel and Gazzy outside and flew to our hideout.

Fang laid Max down on the floor and looked around. "OK," he said, "if anyone wants to show their First Aid certificate, do so now!"

Everyone's eyes looked blank, so I took what I'd learned from watching ER and The Discovery Channel and went into Nurse Mode, "All right, someone needs to go to the store. I'm gonna need antiseptic and a _lotta _band aids. Bring me water and a bag of ice. And bring some multivitamin tablets. They'll help her heal faster. Here, take Max's credit card." I scanned everyone's faces. They all looked pretty shocked. "Go!" I cried.

"I'll go," Iggy muttered.

"I'll go, too," I said, "Fang, make sure she gets lots water. Clean up the blood off her. She's obviously gonna bleed, but if I see too much more blood, I swear, I'll hurl."

I stood and Iggy and I took off. We were lucky there was a town close by. I found the personal health aisle and grabbed some Neosporin, gauze, bandages, Band-Aids, painkillers, paper towels and multivitamins. Then I went to the drinks aisle and grabbed five liter-size bottled waters. In the toys aisle, I found a plush hawk and a baby blanket and bought them, too. I went to the front to ring them up.

"Did someone get hurt?" the sales' clerk asked, concerned.

"No," I answered, "We just wanna be prepared. We were out, so we figured better safe than sorry, right?"

"Yeah," she said, "All right, fifty-three dollars and eighty-nine cents."

"Gimme a bag of ice, too, please," I said.

"Alright," she said, totaling it again, "fifty-eight, twenty-one." I handed her Max's credit card.

She handed me back Max's card and the shopping bags. I handed the water bag to Iggy and took the other two myself. We left the store quickly.

Once we were in the air, we began to talk again, not afraid to discuss personal problems, "How did you know all about curing people like that?"

"Well, watching TV does come in handy sometimes," I told him, "I always watched ER and the Discovery Channel back at the house. They turned out to be very informative."

"_You_ watched a hospital soap?" he laughed.

"You watch Scrubs!" I snapped.

He laughed again, "Scrubs is funny! ER doesn't make dirty comments _ever_."

"You're right," I said, "Scrubs is funny. But not informative."

"You amaze me," Iggy laughed. I tried to control my cheeks and prevent them from blushing too bad, but I think they still did.

"Hey, hang a right," I said. We turned and landed back in the cave.

I went right to work. I pulled out the paper towels. I soaked them with water and dabbed at the wounds on Max's pretty face.

"Band-Aids," I said, and Iggy handed some to me. "Neosporin," Iggy handed it to me. I squeezed some Neosporin onto the Band-Aids and patched her face with them. "Hand me some paper towels and a water bottle." I cleaned up the wounds along Max's arms and covered them with Neosporin covered Band-Aids as well. I did the same to her stomach.

"Uhhrrr," Max said, waking up. She tried sitting up. I touched her shoulder gently and said, "No, Max. Lie down. You're gonna hurt yourself even more. Now, what hurts? Did I get everything?"

"My back," she told me. I lifted her and bandaged her back up.

"Rik really hurt you," I stated sympathetically.

"Did I kill him with that punch, at least?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I said, shaking my head, "You knocked him out pretty cold, but we didn't check…sorry."

Max almost laughed, "Nudge, it's all right! I don't mind! We'll just have to kick his butt next time."

"Max, will you be OK?" I asked her.

"Yeah, babes, I'll be fine," she assured me. But I saw fear and pain in her eyes for just a second before she hid her emotions away again. I gave her a encouraging smile and walked to sit beside Iggy.

**POV Max**

Fang came over and sat beside my head (cuz I was still lying down). He was holding our baby. His expression was blank as usual, but I saw enjoyment in his dark eyes.

"So what's her name?" Fang asked.

I laughed, "They wanted to name her Twen."

"Twen?" Fang repeated.

"Twen," I said, "As in their twentieth successful experiment." I gave him a serious look, trying to let him know with my eyes that I was _not_ joking.

"Our baby's name is _not_ Twen," Fang said firmly.

"I know," I said, "But I wanted to wait for you to name her."

"How about Natalie?" he suggested.

I smiled. Natalie. It had a nice ring to it. Natalie. "I like Natalie," I said.

"Natalie it is, then," Fang said, "Natalie Ride."

I was stunned. We were using _my_ last name? Boy, do I feel special. But then it dawned on me that Fang didn't have a last name, so my last name was the _only_ last name to use. I smiled and repeated it, "Natalie Ride."

"_The_ Natalie Ride," Fang said jokingly, "Daughter of _the_ Maximum Ride."

"And daughter of _the _Fang…uh…" I said. Fang chuckled softly, "And daughter of _the _Fang! See, you're so important, you don't need a last name!" We were both silent for a while, then I said quietly, "She looks like you."

"She's a day old! How can she look like me?" Fang asked.

I smiled, "She has your eyes."

"Yes, but your eyes are dark, too," Fang pointed out.

"Well, she has your hair!" I smiled. It was true. Natalie's hair was straight like mine, but it was chocolate-colored like Fang's.

"She has your wings," Fang added. Her wings did match mine.

"Someone hit her with the pretty stick," I said.

Fang nearly smiled, and for the first time in a month, I felt hope rush through my veins.

**THREE DAYS LATER**

Thank you quick healing bird DNA! See, I _knew_ that stuff came in handy every now and then!!! Anyways, I'm 100 percent healed! Fang and I decided to go on a date, so we left Natalie with Nudge (God, Nudge loves holding the baby WAY too much) and went off on our merry way.

We found a park close by and sat next to each other by the fountain. I was staring out at the mountains in the distance, but I saw Fang staring directly into my eyes.

"What are you looking at?" I laughed.

"Natalie's not the only one who got hit with the pretty stick," Fang said.

"Who else did, then?" I asked, knowing the answer even before I asked it.

"You did," Fang stated and leaned to kiss my mouth.

"Fang!" I giggled.

"What?" he asked, amusement expressed in his gorgeous eyes.

"Why'd you stop?!" I said slyly, leaning in to kiss him back.

We stayed like that for the longest time. Finally, we broke apart. I examined his fine face, but his eyes were studying the skies behind us.

"What?" I asked.

"Get up," he said. His voice portrayed sincerity and urgency.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Get up!" he cried, standing. I looked at the mountain where our hideout was. But I couldn't see the mountain for all the little black dots blocking in. And since I doubt there were that many birds blocking our area, I figured they were Erasers.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. I jumped to my feet and we took to the air. I had to fight my way through all the Erasers, but I soon got inside the cavern. I took out my fury on Erasers as I hurriedly scanned the heads for my flock. Where were they?!

**POV Nudge**

"Gimme the baby, Fudge!" Rik was saying to me.

"It's Nudge!!!" I snapped. I cuddled Natalie protectively against my torso and avoided a punch aimed at me.

"Like that's much better," Rik sneered. His hand clenched into a fist, turning his knuckles white. He lifted it and attempted to hit me, but I dodged his punch easily. I lifted my foot and kicked him right across the cheek. He flew backward, knocking over a couple other Erasers like bowling pins.

He stood right away and walked over to me. He growled fiercely and punched me again, this time succeeding and making me fly against the cave wall. Dizzy and disoriented, I tried to stand, but Rik just came over and punched my chest.

"H-help!!!" I managed to scream out.

I was expecting to see Max or Fang appear. (I was positive they had seen the battle and came to join in.) But instead, I saw Iggy break through the crowd of Erasers, coming to my rescue.

Iggy shocked me beyond belief. He looked angrier than I'd ever seen him. He swung a punch at the back of Rik's head, hitting him firmly and causing him to wheel around and face Iggy. Iggy was lucky he was blind, so he didn't see the nasty looks Rik was sending his way.

Iggy swung another punch at Rik, and Rik fell to the ground. Iggy crouched on the ground and punched Rik as if he were a punching bag. Rik was strong, though, and managed to flip it over so he was on top of Iggy, but Iggy was able to wiggle around enough to evade the attacks.

"Why don't you look at me when I hurt you?!" Rik shouted in frustration.

Iggy laughed out loud and threw Rik off of him, "I'm _blind_," he stated. He kicked Rik in the side and then brought a punch down in the middle of his chest.

"And that'll teach you not to hurt Nudge ever again!!!!" Iggy shouted, two inches from Rik's face. Rik didn't move a muscle. He was either severely out or dead. I was hoping for the second one, but you could never be sure.

Iggy stood and walked to me, wrapping me into a hug. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and nuzzled my head into his neck. "You're OK," he said, "Nudge, you're OK."

I shrugged him off of me and used the back of one hand to wipe away my tears. "I know," I said softly, "But I was scared back there."

"You're really good at dodging attacks," Iggy pointed out.

I laughed softly, forcing myself to not blush, "I know. It's a great skill, don't you think?"

Iggy laughed and nodded, "Yeah. Especially when you're a mutant bird kid on the run from wolf hybrids hungry from only _your_ blood." We were quiet for a while. Natalie wiggled slightly against me and made a gurgling noise. Iggy must've heard it, because he said, "Is Natalie OK?" His hand reached out to touch the baby gently.

"I think so," I answered, "I protected her from Rik the best I could."

"Are _you_ OK?" Iggy asked.

"My head hurts a little," I said, holding my head, "and my chest, too," I touched my flat chest, "But otherwise I'm OK." I didn't mention that Rik might've broken a rib or two.

Iggy smiled. I liked his smile. It made me smile. "I'm glad," he said.

"How about you?" I asked him, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Iggy answered, "That bastard should think twice before messin' with me!"

I tried to be strong. I really did try. But it's very hard when you just got your butt kicked by a scary wolf-thing. Now I knew how Max felt. I dropped my head into Iggy's t-shirt and tried to hold myself together, but a few sad tears still escaped.

Iggy placed a sensitive hand on my poofy hair. "It's all right, Nudge," he said quietly, "Everything will turn out OK."

**So there's the Niggyness you wanted! Is Niggyness right? I mean, I know Fax is for Max and Fang, but is Niggy for Nudge and Iggy? Or is it Nuggy? Idge? Idgy? Nudgy? Ugh…I'm confused! Well anyways, there's your chapter!!!**


	9. Secrets Exposed

**This is kind of a filler chapter while I think up new ideas. But nonetheless, it's cute! So, enjoy!!!!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Nine**

**Secrets Exposed**

**POV Max**

Alrightythen. To make a long story short, a very, very large group of Erasers came to visit and we kicked their butts. And that's where we are now.

"Report," I said. They all said they were fine, except I was missing a couple of people…

"What about Iggy and Nudge?" I asked, "Where are they?"

Everyone shrugged with 'I don't know' looks on their faces. Oh, crap.

FLASHBACK FROM JUST AFTER THE FIGHT

"Let's go somewhere," Iggy said out of the blue. He has his arm around Nudge and was watching the fight just as it was ending from a tree just a ways away. Nudge had wanted to rejoin the battle, but Iggy convinced her to say out of it so she could heal quicker and not get even more injured.

"_What?_" Nudge cried, "We can't! Max would go ballistic!"

Iggy shrugged, "So?! We'll be right back, I promise! Max will never notice."

"I bet she will," Nudge said, beginning to be persuaded.

"Nudge," Iggy said, wrapping his right wing around her, "Do _you_ want to?"

"That doesn't matter," Nudge muttered, becoming very interested in the rock sitting beside her.

"Yes, it does!" Iggy cried, "Do you?"

"Yes," Nudge said hesitantly.

"Then, let's go," Iggy said, taking Nudge by the hand and standing.

"Where?" Nudge asked as they began to fly off.

"Anywhere but here," Iggy said.

FLASHBACK OVER

I flew off in search of my friends with Angel by my side. See, I would have gone alone but we have this 'stick with a buddy' rule (I would say that it's a dumb rule, but I made the rule), so I would've taken Fang, but then the next oldest there would have been the Gasman, and, I'm sorry, I just don't trust a 10-year-old boy to keep a safe watch over his 8-year-old sister and my 3-day-old baby. And that was a _very_ long sentence.

After not any time at all, Angel said, "I can hear them!"

Thank you, Mind-Reader!

"They're over that way!" Angel said, pointing to the right. We swerved that way.

"How far?" I asked.

"Pretty far, I think," she responded, "Their thoughts are pretty faint. I can barely hear it."

"Alright, well, keep me posted," I told her.

"Course," she replied.

Ten minutes later she stopped dead for only a second, then picked up the pace, diving downward.

"What?!" I cried.

"This way!" she said.

"Wait!" I called, following her, "They're down here?"

"Yes!" she cried.

We landed shortly in a clearing in the woods. "Which way?" I asked.

She closed her eyes, apparently thinking, "That way." We walked toward the trees and Angel led us down a path toward a waterfall.

"There they are," Angel said, pointing to the waterfall.

"They're _behind_ the waterfall?" I asked. Angel nodded, a disgusted look coming over her face.

"They're talking lovey-dovey," Angel said.

"No way," I said, "You must be hearing it wrong."

"No…no…I'm hearing it right," Angel said, "And now…ew! Oh, gross!"

"What, Angel? What?" I asked.

"They're kissing!" Angel said.

"No!" I cried.

"Yes! I know for sure! I mean…they're both thinking it!" Angel cried.

"Is someone there?" I heard Iggy's voice say.

"Let's go!" I said. We flew over the lake into the cave behind the waterfall. "Hey, guys," I said, unable to keep laughter out of my voice, "Hope we didn't _interrupt_ anything."

"You didn't," Nudge said quietly, shooting unseen glances at Iggy.

"Great. So, um, do you mind heading back with us? We've been looking everywhere for you," I said.

"Sure," Nudge said.

I nodded. Neither of them moved. I leaned forward and whispered, "You know, heading back would require getting up."

They nodded.

"You guys go," Iggy said, breaking the silence that had overcome the room, "We'll catch up."

"Alright," I said, "Just be back before too late."

I turned and together Angel and I began to head back to the cave.

I heard Angel's voice in my head just before we landed, _Are we going to tell the others?_

_No,_ I answered after some thought, _It's up to Nudge and Iggy to tell everyone._

_OK,_ Angel said.

"Did you find them?" Fang asked.

"Yes," I said.

"So where were they?" he followed me as I walked to the Gasman and took my baby back from him.

"Um," I said, "They went off to buy some more baby food and got lost. Right guys?" I said as they flew in.

"Yeah," Nudge answered, "I just thought we'd need some."

Fang and Gazzy nodded and shrugged. They had no idea.

_Thank you,_ Nudge mouthed to me.

_You're welcome, _I mouthed back.

It was late, so I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes.

_Hello, Max,_ I heard.

I groaned in my head and said, _Hello, Voice…I mean Jeb. How very nice to see you._

_Nice to see you, too, Max,_ the Voice said, _How's life as a mother treating you?_

_I was a mother before. I've been a mother since I was 10,_ I told him, _Life with a _baby_ has been cool._

The Voice – Jeb – was quiet for such a long time, I thought he was gone. Finally he said, _Has your mother seen her?_

I was shocked. After a pause, I said, _Um…no. No, she hasn't. She will, eventually. I should probably take Natalie over there soon._

_OK,_ Jeb said, sounding oddly uncomfortable, _Well, you should sleep._

_Yes, until Natalie wakes me up, I should, _I thought.

And Jeb was gone.

**I think I'm going to fast-forward soon. I'm probably going to go to age three, but who knows. It won't be next chapter. I've still got some things to cover. Probably chapter eleven or twelve.**


	10. Home Sweet Home

**Unless you haven't read the notice on my profile page, My Favorite Mistake is coming to an end! I have prewritten through chapter 12 and I'll write a couple more chapters, then I'm D-O-N-E done! There will be a sequel solely about Natalie after I'm done, and I'm even gonna add a preview to my newest story on the last chapter!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 10**

**Home Sweet Home**

I didn't sleep much that night, but oddly enough, didn't feel tired when I woke up the next morning. I was in a quiet mood, and let Fang get the flock up and fed, leaving me free to laze around as I pleased.

"Hey," Fang said after rousing Gazzy from a deep sleep and urging Iggy to fix breakfast, "What's up?"

"Nothing," I said, even though it wasn't true. I glanced at Nudge who was playing Peek-a-Boo with Natalie. Inside my head I smiled. Outside I stared blankly at the floor.

"Max, you've got to tell me," Fang said.

I glanced at him only long enough to see his eyes. They were dark and trusting. I wondered how many people in the world he trusted. "Just got a lot on my mind, that's all," I said.

"Is it the Voice?" Fang asked.

"No," I told him, "I haven't heard from the Voice in a long time." Wait a minute…did I just lie to Fang? Because unless yesterday counts as a long time, it hasn't been that long.

Fang nodded, examining my face.

"Nudge," I said. Nudge looked up. "Could I hold onto Natalie for a while?"

"Sure," Nudge said, passing my baby to me.

"Thanks," I said. I worked up a fake smile to mask my solemn face.

I held Natalie for the longest time, but then a crazy idea entered my mind. I stood up, walking to the cave entrance. Unfurling my wings slowly, I was becoming more and more convinced to do the unthinkable.

I needed to leave the flock. Not for good. Not even for a day. Just for a few hours. I needed to be by myself. To think. I also needed to see my mom and show off my new baby girl.

Impulsively I jumped off the edge and began to flap furiously. The flock was shouting at me to come back. I may have even seen Fang take flight and start to chase me. But once I poured on the speed, clutching Natalie tight to my chest, they were all long gone.

In less than ten minutes I was in Arizona. I walked up to the door and pounded hard. I was smiling (genuinely this time) as Mom came to the door and saw her granddaughter.

"Max!" she cried, eyes darting from me to Natalie.

"Meet your granddaughter," I said, "Natalie Ride."

"Oh, my God!" Mom cried. I beamed. "Ella! Ella, honey, come out here!" This time I was unafraid to see my sister. This time I was not a mess. This time I had a baby to show off. This time I was confident and energetic. Except this time, I felt the slightest bit of guilt as I saw my biological family before me.

Ella appeared at the door and cried out, "Max!" She fell into a hug with me, but I quickly pushed her off for fear she would suffocate my baby.

Mom led me inside and we sat on the couches. "So," Mom said, "How're things?"

"Things are…weird…" I said, "I mean, with the baby and…it's just hard."

There was a knock on the door, and Ella raced to get it. She came back in looking confused. "Mom? There's a man here for you. He says he knows you," she said.

Mom stood and went to the door. I followed, prepared for Erasers or scientists. Instead I saw my father, Jeb Batchelder.

"What the f…heck are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came to see your baby," Jeb said, putting on an artificial smile.

"Jeb, I'm sure Max would love for you to see her child, but at the moment we're having a little family time," Mom said.

"Yeah, so go away!" I snapped. I know, great comeback, right?

"Oh, I can't," Jeb said, his smile vanishing.

I heard Ella's scream radiate from the living room. I ran to see Rik clutching Ella, a knife to her neck. My mind was racing. Where was Natalie? What happened to Natalie? Where the hell was my baby?!

"Give me the baby, Maxie," he said, a sinister smirk covering his lips.

Great. I had no idea where my baby was, I didn't have my flock by my side and, worst of all, I couldn't escape this nightmare. I gulped and stood very still. Rik nodded his head and cloaked Erasers filed out of the kitchen. They tied Ella's hands up and held her still.

Rik walked over to me. I stood as straight as I could get myself. _No fear, _I thought to myself, _Show no fear. You're not going to lose this fight. You were meant to survive._

"She's weak," Rik said, bringing his face close to mine, "and so are you. And you're alone."

"I'm not alone," I told him. I almost spit the words out, "My mom and Ella are here."

"And they're going to _fight_?" he laughed, "Face it: you have no one to fight with you. Only _humans_." He shot a nasty look at my mom.

Angrily, I swung a punch and caught him up the side of his chin. His neck made a stomach-turning popping sound, but otherwise there was little damage. Rik swung his leg under mine and I fell to the ground, but was up before he even had his fists up.

The battle began. I evaded his attacks and kept moving backward. I wanted to lead it outside so we didn't destroy Mom's house. At the stairs, I jumped down and raced outside, swinging the door open so everyone came out, even Mom and the Erasers who were holding Ella.

Rik landed a blow to my shoulder and it popped backward, making it hurt like hell, but I kept moving. I aimed a kick to Rik's stomach, but he jumped and I hit his 'manliness.' His right eye twitched a little as he fell silent. Rik crumpled to the floor, whimpering. I fought the urge to laugh.

I lifted Rik by his shirt and began to punch him like a punching bag. I punched the side of his head and he flew to the side. His neck cracked, and I was sure he was dead.

And now to kick the guys' asses who kidnapped Ella. I ran at the cloaked men. I knocked two out at one time, freeing Ella. The third Eraser punched my head just as I tripped him. His cloak fell off and I realized he was not a he, but a she.

She stood and threw at punch at my head. I cocked my head to the side and grabbed her arm as she brought it back. I tugged it hard and she flew backward. She stood up immediately and tried again to punch at me. She was strong, but her moves were sloppy and off-balance.

I ducked at she swung her leg over my head. Then I stood and did a front flip over her. I kicked her back and she fell forward, most likely getting a mouthful of dirt.

"You'll never beat me!" she shouted, standing and throwing a punch at me.

"Of course I will!" I told her, "I'm Maximum Ride! I've been told enough times that I'm meant to survive to figure out that it's my friggin' destiny!"

"I will not rest until you are six feet under, cold and alone!" the Eraser shouted, "I'm Is! I'm meant to survive!"

"Thanks for the introduction," I said, "now, buh-bye." I kicked her chest and she toppled.

I saw a helicopter land and the girl stood and ran, lifting Rik as she climbed aboard it. The other two Erasers followed, leaving me to stand there, confused.

I turned to look at my mom, but noticed something – or someone – coming from the sky. Five someones.

I beamed at ran at Fang. He caught me in a hug and whispered in my ear, "Where's Natalie?" I shook my head into his neck and felt his shoulders drop. I whispered back, "I think Ella hid her before the fight."

"Then we better find her," Fang said.

"But that would require moving," I said, "and I don't think I can."

Fang chuckled into my hair. I loved his chuckle. He whispered back into my hair, "You like running away, don't you?"

"I guess so," I said, "It's a habit."

"Can you possibly break that habit?" he asked.

"I'll try," I told him. He let me go, and I stood for the longest time just staring into his dark eyes.

I turned to face the rest of the flock. I smiled a true smile at them. It had been just this morning that I'd seen them, but it felt like a lifetime.

"Sorry for leaving," I said.

"That's OK," Gazzy said.

"It's not like you went far," Nudge said. I noticed her smile was brighter than usual, even for her. I looked closer to see that she was holding the hand of a certain strawberry-blond blind boy who was also smiling wide enough to stretch from here to New York City.

All six of us began to walk toward the house. I realized it was the first time all of us were together at Mom's house at the same time. We met Ella and Mom outside the house and went inside. Ella walked to living room and opened the shelf below the TV holding DVDs. She pulled out Natalie and handed the baby to me.

"Hey, baby!" I said, kissing her forehead. Fang stroked Natalie's head lovingly. _We're going to do OK, _I thought, _my family is going to do OK._ I expected the Voice to chime in here, but my head was silent. Ah, how I cherish those times.

**Dododododododoooooooo!!!!! Chapter 10!!!!!!!!!**


	11. Is's Ambition

**This chapter is really, really short, but you kinda need it to understand chapter 12, so here you go!!!**

**HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 11**

**Is's Ambition**

**POV Is**

I stood and stomped across the room, grumbling. The rest of the Erasers were celebrating the latest achievement in Itex, so I had the girls' quarters to myself.

"Max is _so_ stupid!" I cried, feeling annoyed that I couldn't think of anything worse to say about Max than pointing out her stupidity, "I can't _believe_ she almost beat me!" I stopped pacing, "She _would've_ beat me!" my eyes widened in realization, "She would've _gladly_ kicked my ass all the way from here to Europe! She's strong! She killed Rik, didn't she?"

"Who says she killed Rik?" a man's voice said. Rik stepped out of the shadows, making me jump a little, "Does it _look_ like she killed me?"

"Rik…" I said, "I…I…I…I mean…you…I _saw_ you! You _died_!"

"I almost died. It's much different. I only have a little time left, but I need you to do something for me, Is. I need revenge," Rik said bloodthirstily. He stepped forward triumphantly but stopped and held his head. He looked…sick to his stomach….but why? "Shit!" he cried, "It's almost…"

"Almost?" I asked, catching Rik as he fell, "Almost what, Rik? Tell me!"

Rik chuckled as much as you could chuckle when your heart is slowing down, "My life. It's almost over. Damn." He gasped for air, barely making his words understandable, "Listen to me, Is. You're my only hope for revenge! You have to kill Maximum Ride."

"Why me?!" I cried out in panic, "I can't! She'll kill me! She's stronger than I am!"

"Then TRAIN!!!" Rik snapped. I hadn't expected that. Wasn't he dying? And if you were dying, did you have the strength to snap at people like that?

"But _why me_?" I snapped at him.

"You're the only one I ever trusted," Rik said, "The only one I ever loved. You have to kill her. If you don't, _I'll haunt you for the rest of your damned life_." I shuddered at the last words. If he loved me, why did he want to haunt me? It made no sense, but then again, _nothing_ was making sense right now.

Rik became heavy in my arms, and I knew he had died. That sucks…I walked over and sat on a chair, grief overcoming me.

Training…yes…I needed that….I would need more training than anyone had ever needed in their life. Ever.

So, training.

Ambition replaced the hurt. I stood and began to walk to the gym. Training. What a concept.

_Don't worry, Rik, _I thought, _I will kill Maximum Ride. If it's the last thing I do._

**Again, sorry this chapter is so short, but I think it's a good place to stop. I promise, chapter 12 makes up for this in length….it's really really really long……and sadly only took me an hour or so to write whereas chapter 13 has taken me several days…weirdness…anyways review or there shall never be another chapter!!!!!! (just kidding!!!)**


	12. What Just Happened?

**The POV is back to Max. Not much else to say besides that….**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 12**

**What Just Happened???**

THREE YEARS LATER

"Natty," I said, holding a white bear a few feet away from my precious baby, "Natty, who's this?"

"Celeste!" Natalie said, holding out her tiny hands for the bear.

"Good job!" I said.

"Me bear!" Natalie said, stamping her foot and taking a serious face.

"Now, what do we say?" I said.

"Pease gimme bear?" Natty said, her eyes becoming round as dinner plates and shiny as the moon. Great, Bambi Eyes Part Two.

"Here you go," I laughed, handing her the ragged bear passed down from Angel. I'd been glad Angel had been so great about giving Celeste to Natalie for her second birthday. She'd been such, well, an _angel_ about it.

I left Natalie to play with the old bear, walking over to Fang. I gave him a kiss gently and we watched the kid play.

"God, she loves that bear," I said.

"Well, Angel was getting kind of old for a toy bear," Fang pointed out. I looked over at Angel. She had grown up. She'd grown to be even prettier than before. She kind of looked like a younger version of me with blue eyes instead of brown.

"They've all grown," I said, examining the differences in my flock members.

Gazzy had become handsome. He'd also learned to 'hold it in,' if you know what I mean. Well, at least, he tried more often. He'd become more sexist-pig, too. Checking out girls' butts. Making out with girls on the beach…or the street…or the coffee shop…or the bathroom…or wherever he could find space…

Nudge had grown to be just as tall as me. Her eyes shone whenever Iggy spoke. Her hair had straightened as she aged, and now, with a little brushing, her hair was as straight as mine.

Iggy hadn't changed much. His face matured, but he was done growing taller and now just his hair grew. At a _very_ rapid pace.

Fang…was Fang. Handsome…sexy…my baby's father…I loved him even more now than I did five years ago when our relationship started. I had also noticed he showed more emotion than he used to. Well, not so much around the flock, but definitely around me and Natty.

And me. Well, we all know what a knockout I am! (Oh my God I am so joking!) Well, I did have boys in the stores always coming up to me and asking me out. I always say no, I promise! I thinned out a little more, if possible. But, like Fang and Iggy, I was done growing.

Natalie had started to be called Natty. Her hair was the color of dark chocolate that waved in a way that seemed it couldn't decide whether to be like my straight hair or Fang's chocolate ringlets. Her dark eyes glittered beautifully in the light at this time. The Erasers (now winged) had kept trying to steal Natalie away through her first two years, but now they stopped trying so much. Their attacks backed off from three, four times a week to three, four times a month.

My eyes scanned the trashy hotel room we were in (heck, it had two queen beds, one twin bed and a couch and at $27 a night, why not?) and noticed Fang staring right at me.

"What?" I laughed.

His eyes shone as he said the words, "We grew up together. Since we were babies, we grew up together. I guess I just realized that."

"We had a family," I said.

"Yeah, but that just started three years ago," Fang said.

I shook my head, "No, it didn't. _Our_ family started three years ago. Scientifically speaking, that is. But we've had Nudge, Iggy, the Gasman and Angel here since…I can't even _remember_ how long it's been since we've been there for them."

"_You_ were their Mom," Fang said, "I did nothing."

"You were there," I pointed out, "And that matters more than you can imagine." I dropped my head onto his shoulder and smiled.

"It's late," he whispered so just I could hear, "We should get to bed."

'We' meant all of us. I'd learned two years ago to decipher the 'we' that meant him and I from the 'we' that meant all seven of us. I looked deep into his mysterious eyes and felt truly happy. Boy did that feel good!

"OK, guys!" I said, making everyone stop and stare at me, "Time for bed!"

There was minimal disagreement over the beds. We switched off who got the bed and who got the floor. In the end, Fang and I got a bed, Iggy and Nudge got a bed, the Gasman got the twin bed and Angel got the couch.

THE NEXT MORNING

It was eight AM when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw a skinny girl.

"May I help you?" I asked her.

"Yes," the girl replied, "You can die."

She grabbed my shirt and dragged me out of the room. I gasped as I saw everything. All across the parking lot outside the motel were hundreds of Erasers. And I had a feeling this was a showdown. And I was not the favorable winner.

"Who are you?" I cried as she used my shirt to throw me to the ground.

"Is!" the girl shouted at me, "My name is Is and I am here to kick your ass! I've been training for three years to fight and kill you. The day Rik died was the day I pledged my life to killing you."

Rik…that name sounded familiar. "Rik? You mean the guy who always tried to kill me and my family? The guy who I killed, what, three _years _ago? Why would you want to avenge _him_?" I asked.

"He said he loved me," Is said.

"Yeah, he _also_ said he was gonna kill me," I said, "Look around, Is. I'm still here! The guy doesn't seem too keen on keeping promises, now does he?"

Is fumed quietly then started to charge. I took to the air, swerving from left to right. I could beat her, easy. But I didn't have to. And that was the difference between her and me.

I began to fly up, but I saw my flock telling me not to. I reached the height of the motel and felt an electric shock large enough to give an electric eel a run for his money. I fell to the ground and Is began to walk toward me.

"Give it up," Is said, "I've _trained_ for this for three years. I'm faster, stronger and better."

I stood and swung a punch across her face, "Yeah? Then why are you doing it?" Is scanned me for a second, as if shocked, then kicked at me shoulder, an attack which I easily dodged.

"What do you mean?" she grunted out while locked in battle with me.

"What I mean is," I started, panting. Damn, she was better than before! "you don't have to beat me. Heck, you seem so sure you're better than me, but you just have to prove it."

I'd angered her. All of a sudden, she was moving faster, fighting harder. It took all I had to just evade her.

"Die, freak," she snapped. Is swept her foot behind my knees so they gave out. I fell to my knees and tried to get back up, but she punched me across my cheek, so I fell to the side. Using my shirt to lift me, she shoved me against the wall. Her left hand wrapped around my throat.

"Do you love him?" I managed to choke out.

"Who?" she asked, her hand around my neck loosening to allow me to speak.

"You said he said he loved you," I said, "But do you love him?" Good. I was buying myself time.

"Like a brother," she replied, "May I kill you now?" Her eyes were bloodshot.

"How do you know he loves you?" I asked just as her hand was tightening again.

She stopped, her eyes staring mine down, "I don't. But he said. It had to be true."

"Why don't you just ask him?" I asked her.

"He's dead," she said with great pain in her voice, "How am I supposed to ask him?"

I sighed, "Well, being that he's right behind you, I'd say all you have to do is turn around."

"What?" she asked, "You're shittin' me!"

"I have never understood that phrase, and I probably never will," I said, "But, no, I'm not 'shitting' you. He seriously is. Aren't you, Rik?" Her eyes were examining mine, looking for the slightest hint of lying. She wouldn't find it; not because I was such a good liar, but because it was true. I'd seen him a little while ago, but I had been a little busy at that moment.

"Rik?" she breathed, her voice was barely audible. She turned away from me, her hand not yet leaving my neck. But then her eyes fell on her one and only.

"Rik!" she cried out. She ran to him, not caring about me any longer (thank the Lord!). She wrapped her arms tight around him, but he did not return the hug.

"Why didn't you kill her?" Rik hissed into her ear, his voice as sharp as nails.

"What?" she said surprised. She withdrew from the hug and looked him in the eyes. "Aren't you happy to be alive? To see me?"

Rik angrily shoved Is off of him. "I never died, idiot!" he shouted at her, "I was faking it! I was still recovering from the surgery it took to make me live, so I I thought maybe it'd give you more of a reason to kill Maximum Ride! But I guess not. You want something done, you have to do it yourself, right?! So get out of my way!" He shoved Is to the left and there she laid on the ground dumbstruck.

Rik threw a punch at my head, but I ducked and dodged it, and his hand his the stone wall behind me. I punched the side of his head.

He cried out in anger and reached behind him, grabbing me and throwing me forward so I was facing him. Now that I had not expected. He proceeded to punch every bit of me. Boy, was I gonna be bruised tomorrow.

I was his punching bag. Oh, what a great feeling to be a punching bag.

Vaguely, I saw Fang fighting to get through a group of Erasers. All of my flock was coming to try to help me. But there were too many. And it seemed like more Erasers were still coming every minute, to watch to death of Maximum Ride.

_This is it, _I thought, _This is the end._

Suddenly, Rik was thrown off of me. I slunk down the wall, weary and shaky from being a human punching bag. I didn't think to look over and see who helped (ahem…saved) me. I couldn't even focus my eyes much anymore. I dropped my head in my hands and tried to fight the feeling of dizziness and nausea that had overcome me.

Five minutes later, I felt better. I stood to see Rik lying on the ground, beaten senseless and most likely dead. (Yay!!!) I looked around. Who killed him? Was it Fang? Iggy? Nudge? Gazzy? Angel? No. They were all still fighting to get through the crowd, which, in fact, had lessened.

Is was panting, standing under a yard from me. There was blood on her hands.

"Did you…?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said, "I think I did." Tears filled her deep blue eyes. She wiped the blood on the grass beneath our feet and let her head fall in her hands and cry.

I nodded for a minute, taking it all in. Finally, I said, "Thank you."

She looked at me, shocked. "What?" she said, confused.

"Thank you for helping me," I said, "I would've died if not for you."

"I can't believe him," she said, "He lied in every way possible. Everything I think, everything I know and knew, it was all a lie. How can I know what's the truth?"

I shrugged. After another long pause, I said, "So, what now?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Where do you go? What do you do now?" I asked her.

She scanned my face, as if looking for a reason not to trust me. Finally she said, "There are a bunch of us Erasers who are starting to feel like this is wrong. So, I think I'm going to leave with them. I'm going to be hunted down for disobeying. They're going to want to kill me. But we're the strongest of the Erasers. We're the ones they think will survive the longest. We can, as long as we're together."

She didn't speak for the longest time, but I could tell she wasn't done speaking. I glanced over to see that Fang had broken through the crowd and was now watching me. I could tell he was ready to run and protect me if needed. He was closer and closer every time I looked at him.

"What about you?" Is asked, snapping me back into the conversation.

"I'll be doing what I've done for forever," I said, "Protecting my family."

"I'll back off," she promised, "That is, if you will."

"I will. And if I ever see you being attacked, I'll have my flock come and help you," I told her.

"Same here," she said. She smiled.

I reached out my hand for a handshake. But she opened her arms wide and we hugged each other. I'd made friends with an Eraser. Go figure…

"I've gotta go," she said.

"Me, too," I said.

We walked our separate ways. I met up with my flock and we began to fly away. I felt a sense of peace about our situation.

"You're not gonna kill her?" Fang asked me.

"No," I said, "She deserves to live."

And as I looked back at the Erasers disbanding into their cars and vans, I saw a group of six or seven Erasers walking the other way, and I picked out the bushy-haired girl that was Is as the leader. She turned and looked at six dots growing smaller in the sky, and I think I saw her wave.

But it could've just been my imagination.

**I want you guys to let me know whether you think this should be the end. Trust me, the two chapters I've written for after this are not good!!!! However, nothing I write at this moment is real good….AHHHH!!!! WRITERS BLOCK!!!!**

**I don't usually like to ask for ideas for stories, but if you want My Favorite Mistake to continue, I'm gonna need them.**


	13. Love and Laughs

**OK, a lot of you have been asking who the hell Is is. Well, since very few of you remember, I'll just say reread the end of chapter four. That's where Is comes in at.**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Love and Laughs**

We'd said our goodbyes to Mom and Ella and began to fly away. I still had to carry Natalie, since she was just learning how to fly. We weren't flying anywhere in particular at that moment, just getting some distance away from Mom's house.

I turned and leaned so I was within talking distance of Fang.

"What now?" I asked.

"We go back to hiding out, finding food where we can and fighting off Erasers," Fang said.

"Ugh," I groaned. I didn't want to hide in fear, have to find food and…well, the fighting off Erasers part was kind of a given.

Fang saw my expression and saw joy for a second in his usually emotionless eyes. He gave me innocent eyes and said in his best Swingin' Sixties voice, "Oh, but doesn't it just sound so gosh darn amazing?"

I smiled just a little. Finally, I said, "You know that fight we had?"

"Which one?" Fang asked. We didn't fight _all _the time, but we fought enough to need to specify.

"What was it, five years ago now? When we were 14. The fight that made us break up," I reminded him.

"Oh, that fight," Fang mumbled. Obviously he didn't want to remember.

"Yeah. Remember? I got mad at you for trying to undermine my role as leader," I said.

"And I was mad at you for letting Ari be in the flock," Fang added.

"Do you remember what you did that made me so mad?" I asked.

"No," Fang said, but the tone of his voice told me he did.

I looked him in the eyes so he knew I wasn't mad anymore. "You wanted to find a permanent home," I said. He nodded. Our eyes were locked in a way that made me wonder why I didn't fall out of the sky since I was paying so little attention to flying.

"You know what I think?" I continued.

"What?"

"You were right," I said, "Not then. Then I was too focused on saving the world. We didn't need a permanent home then. But now, I think you're right. We should have a permanent home. Natalie shouldn't have to live such a scattered life."

Fang nodded.

I smiled. "Hey, guys!" I called to the other flock members. They all looked my way and I continued, "What do you think about laying low for a while? Finding a place to stay until Natalie's old enough to travel well?"

Their shouts of excitement made me feel like that was the right decision. We flew on for a while, but then Natalie began to squirm in my arms (well, more than usual), so I asked her what was wrong.

"I gotta PEE!!!!!!!" she wailed.

"Oh!" I said. I dived downward and we found a gas station to relieve ourselves. While at the gas station, we got a snack of candy and soda and I also bought a United States map. I laid it out on the picnic table outside the gas station.

After more discussion than this kind of thing should take, we decided on Washington. I'm still not sure why we chose it, but Angel wanted trees. And I'll be damned if there weren't trees in the Evergreen State.

We arrived in good ol' Washington in a mere four hours. And with minimal disagreement, we grouped up and went looking for our new home. I went with Angel, Natty and Fang, while Nudge, Iggy and the Gasman went to search.

"How 'bout there?!" Angel said, pointing.

"Ange, that's a farm. Someone lives there," I told her. Fang snickered.

"Oh. Yeah. Right," Angel said.

Five minutes later: "There! There! It's perfect!!!!!!!" Angel cried.

"That would be a wine factory," I said.

Ten minutes later: "That place! There! It's the best place ever!"

I looked down to see a large cabin in a clearing of trees. It looked pretty abandoned. "We'll check it out," I told Angel, "No promises." We swooped down and I walked to the door, knocking first. No one opened the door, so I turned the knob and went right on in.

It was absolutely trashed, but otherwise perfect for us. Above a desk in the lobby was a sign reading 'Mammoth Inn Since 1879.' And other than some rats, spiders and birds, it was all ours.

"I'm gonna get the others," I declared.

"No, I will," Angel said, "After all, I found it." She sent me an unreadable smile and walked out the door. Seconds later, I heard her voice in my head, _Plus, you know, you hardly get any alone time with Fang. If ya know what I mean! _I mentally rolled my eyes at her.

_Yeah, except our baby is here, _I thought back to her, _I'm not gonna do anything with Fang with my three-year-old by my side!_

_Oh…right…_Angel said. A little bit later, Angel swooped back in and grabbed Natalie from the floor. Just as she was heading out the door again, she turned back to me and _winked_.

God, that girl grew up.

"What was that about?" Fang asked a second later.

My face flushed red and I turned away.

"What?" Fang asked, walking over to me. His voice told me he was enjoying this, even though I couldn't see his face.

"Nothing!" I snapped, but my cheeks gave away that I was embarrassed. (Damn cheeks! Who decided our cheeks turn red when we're embarrassed, anyway?)

"Max," Fang said in a sing-song voice that made me look directly at him for the first time. Fang then grabbed my waist and kissed me with fiery intensity. I opened my eyes for a second, just long enough to check to see that the door was firmly shut and no eyes were peeking through the window. All clear!

Our mouths opened and I let out an accidental moan of happiness. I lifted my legs from the floor and wrapped them around Fang's waist. The extra grip I got from doing that felt great! Fang's hands moved from their position gently massaging my back to my butt, supporting me even more. I smiled as we kissed deeper. Fang began to walk backward and, of course, I had no choice but to go with him. But then he tripped over the old couch and fell over the back of it, with me toppling onto his chest.

We both got a little more comfortable while we laughed. Comfortable meaning Fang swinging his legs over the couch and me lying leisurely on his chest. OK, so we ditched his shirt, but don't get dirty thoughts cuz nothing happened!

In fact, at that moment, I heard someone open the door and voices say, "Hey! We're back!"

Great timing, guys.

I scrambled off Fang and moved to the chair beside the couch. "So, you really think that?" I said as a cover for what we were doing.

For a second, Fang seemed a tad bit lost. But then he said, "Yeah! How could you not?"

"Think what?" Angel asked. She plopped herself down on the floor. Nudge sat on the couch opposite Fang and Iggy sat beside her. Natalie, being only three, raced around the room on a sugar rush from the several candy bars I'd given her for lunch.

"Oh, um, uh, we were arguing about whether Monica and Chandler were a great couple," I said. I saw Fang fighting back a chuckle. I shot him a look that said, 'can it!'

"Monica and Chandler?" the Gasman asked. His eyes looked blank. In fact, so did Angel's and Nudge's. It realized they never really watched Friends. It had just been me, Fang and Iggy who were obsessed fans. **((A/N: Friends is the best show ever!!!))**

"Yes. Monica Gellar and Chandler Bing. From Friends. You guys were a little young to understand Friends but Iggy, Fang and I watched it all the time," I continued, "Yeah. I think Monica and Chandler are perfect together, but Fang said he thought Monica should stay with Richard. You know, cuz it's funnier."

"Why is it funnier?" Nudge asked.

"I…I…I'm not sure…Fang why'd you think it was funnier?" I asked. The look of shock in his eyes proved to me that he had not expected me to pass the torch to him.

"Um, you know, cuz, Richard is, like, 20 years older than Monica is, so you got the weird relationship thing going there," Fang responded. Both Fang and I were fighting back to urge to smile and crack up laughing, but neither of us did.

Angel, Gazzy and Nudge murmured 'ohs' at various times. Nudge was looking at Fang weird. After a while, she said, "Fang? Um…why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

Fang looked down at his bare chest, like he just realized it was gone. "Um…" he said, "It's hot…" He scratched his head, and I did my best to hide my giggles.

"So this is our new home?" the Gasman asked, "For, like, a good _long_ time?"

"Yes," I told him, "We'll stay here for a good long time."

"How long?" Iggy asked, sounding doubtful.

I shrugged, lifting my daughter from the ground, "I don't know, exactly. But I'm hoping to stay here until Natalie's ten or so. I want her to have a designated home. So she can learn all she needs to know in one place. It just seems…appropriate."

They all nodded.

"But we need to fix this place up first," Fang told them.

I smiled wide and said, "Alright. We need to find a Home Depot or Lowe's, a grocery store, and probably a Target or Wal-Mart cuz it's always helpful to have one of those around!" They all laughed.

"Do we have to go now?" Nudge asked, "I wanna explore the inn. See where everything is."

"Claim your room?" I added.

"Yeah, maybe," Nudge smiled. I could already see her ready to stand and sprint upstairs.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I told them all, "Go, go, go!"

**I just wanted to let you all know that there will be **_**two **_**sequels coming out. One will come out soon, like near the end of this story. I've also decided to continue this for as long as I can, but ideas are always great.**

**I'd like to thank this person who sent me a review for chapter 12. You weren't signed in, but you typed your name in as 'Nobody knows. Yay!' What you wrote to me kind of made me feel more relaxed and through that I got some more ideas. The next few chapters may not be as actiony as you guys want, but I promise the action will continue later on!!!!!**

**And now…a sneak preview of the sequel to this story: Is!!! (That may not be the title. I'm still workin' on it!)**

_Is sighed, her feeling of bravery gone. She had too many people depending on her to leave this place. She had to be brave. She had to get out of the School. And she had to do it now._

_She waved her hand to her group, beckoning them forward. She called to her friend Urana and she came up beside Is and used her expert lock-picking skills to break the lock on the front door. In a second, they were outside._

_Is breathed in the fresh air with triumph as they raced stealthily toward the woods. Once there, she stopped them all and whispered, "Say your name if you're here."_

"_Urana." Urana was her age, 18, and had gorgeous black hair and purple eyes. Yes, purple._

"_Mitch." Mitch was 18 too and had short blonde hair and blue eyes._

"_Jak." Jak was younger, 16, with chocolate wavy hair falling into his green eyes._

"_Linny." Linny was 12. She had red hair pulled into two braids on either side of her head._

"_Cora." Cora was only 9. Her brunette hair was cut into a cute boy cut and piled messily on top of her head._

"_OK," Is whispered, "then let's go."_

**That story will be out soon. Read and review! LYLAS! Byebyes!**


	14. My Absolute, Suckiest Mistake

**OK, my neighbor lost her dogs. We're looking for a tricolor beagle that answers to the name of Bagel and a tall, lanky black lab with a red choke collar on that answers to the name of Chewy. If you see these dogs…tell me how since I never said where I lived outside of my homestate…**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 14**

**My Absolute, Suckiest Mistake**

I picked out a room for Fang and I to share, Natalie got a smaller room right beside ours. Gazzy and Angel had fought for about an hour about who got the bigger room, until finally I gave it to Gazzy since he's older, but told Angel the smaller room didn't have a disgusting smell, which was true. And after a little disagreement, Nudge and Iggy got to share a room…so don't want to know what goes on in there at night……

And so began our new life in our new home.

The days flew by without my noticing. We were all pretty busy the first few months at the Mammoth Inn. We had a ton of trips to the local Home Depot and we spent most of the time each day doing repair work to the Inn. We fixed it up so it looked really nice, but then the rain came in the fall and we had several leaks, which we had to fix. Before I knew it, two more years had passed.

The Eraser attacks had lessened so much, it was actually kid of shocking when one came. Well, it was a bit of a shock today, at least. It's Iggy's 21st birthday. We've bought several bottles of wine Angel, Gazzy and Natalie have been put to bed, so we're currently celebrating the way grown-ups were meant to celebrate! We bought ton of wine, and several bottles of sparkling cider to make Nudge feel like she's included when she's not allowed to drink.

"More wine!" Iggy cried.

"Shhhh!!!!!!" we all snapped, but laughed and I poured him more wine.

"Nudge, you want some? It's really good!" I asked, smiling wider than I thought my face would let me.

"I'm underage," Nudge said, "That's one law I'll be _glad_ to obey."

The clock chimed midnight and Fang and I kissed to celebrate the clock chiming midnight. And I mean _really_ kissed. The surprising thing was that I didn't feel the least bit embarrassed, kissing Fang like that in public.

Iggy leaned over and tried to kiss Nudge like that, and she laughed and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Iggy groaned and said, "But Nudge, it's my birthday!"

"Not anymore," Nudge laughed, "It's midnight. That means it's the day _after_ your birthday."

"But, but…" Iggy said.

I laughed out loud and Fang joined me. "What's so funny?" Nudge asked.

"He said 'butt!'" I cried, "Isn't that funny?!" Iggy cracked up laughing.

"It's really funny, isn't it, Nudge?" Iggy asked.

Nudge giggled and said, "Don't pull me into your drunken world."

I stopped laughing, "Who says we're drunk?"

"Here's a test. Knock, knock," Nudge said.

"Who's there?" all three of us said at once.

Suddenly Nudge's face drained off all color. In a tiny voice, she muttered, "Erasers…"

The three of us laughed. "That's really funny!" Iggy cried out.

"Yeah!" Fang agreed.

"Especially since there's no way there could be Erasers here!" I cried out. I looked in my cup and said, "Oh. Empty. Sad."

"I don't think there's any more wine," said a voice from behind me.

"Could you go get some, then?" I asked. I turned to look at the mysterious voice and saw a man with a furry face and claws digging into our couch. It took a second for it to click who it was, then I shouted, "ERASERS!!!!!" I hopped to my feet, then stopped since I got a little dizzy when I stood up.

I heard pounding upstairs and saw three heads bob down the staircase. I punched at the Eraser behind me with a surprising amount of force, being that I'd drank enough to fill up the Grand Canyon. He stumbled back and the seven of us began to fight. (I taught Natalie to fight the day she turned four. I thought that was old enough to know how to defend yourself.)

"You're a tad tipsy there, aren't ya?" the Eraser said.

"Not at all," I said, unable to walk in a straight line long enough to reach the next Eraser after I'd knocked that one out. I found Angel and said, "Hey, Ange, could you maybe mentally kill a few of these? I seem to be having trouble…" I searched for words.

"Fighting?" Angel offered.

"No. Standing," I answered, "So…help…please…" I turned away, then turned back, "Oh, and could you watch my baby, please?"

"I'm OK, Mommy," Natalie said, fighting beside Angel. Then she asked Angel, "Is Mommy OK?"

Angel shrugged, closed her eyes and immediately five Erasers dropped dead. But more kept coming at me, and I punched the closest one with all my strength. Thanks to Angel, more dropped dead before me, and, for once, I was glad for the people at the school for making Angel that way.

I looked around for Fang. I saw him over by the concierge's desk (which we didn't ever remove), but it was a miracle I even _did_ see him for all the Erasers huddled around him. It may have just been my paranoia, but it seemed like there were more around him than anyone else.

For a second, I just stood there, staring at Fang, trying to figure out why all the Erasers were attacking anyone _but_ me. I think I stayed a little too long, since finally, _finally, FINALLY_ an Eraser came up to me.

I was expecting him to try his very best to kill me. That's why they're there, right? But instead he grabbed my hand at the first strike I attempted. He pulled me forward and then wrapped my hand behind my back. And, in case that's never happened to you, if you push your arm back far enough and it REALLY hurts. I was wiggling a ton, just trying to get away. In my efforts, I tried to elbow him, but he just grabbed my elbow and then reached out for my hand. I was still fighting like crazy to get away, but now he had a rope out, no doubt intended for my wrists, feet, wings and mouth.

I let out an earsplitting scream for help, but he covered my mouth with his hand before you could say, "Help the winged freak." Within minutes I was tied, gagged and being brought out to a large van. And I could do nothing but squirm and try to attract attention.

"You shouldn't have as much to drink next time, birdie," I heard a voice chime, "Your moves got pretty damn sloppy."

The Eraser holding me spun me in a circle and my head spun long after I was in the back of the van and being driven away.

_Note to self: Don't drink a whole bottle of wine when there's no one to protect you._

I thought about this Note To Self. Then I decided to revise it.

_Note to self: Don't drink a whole bottle of wine EVER._

**Sorry it took so long to update. I ran low on ideas, and now I'm posting another story, which, by the way, I think you're really gonna like. I might not post Is until I get a few more chapters written. I have to work at my neighbor's house two times a day for a while, so that takes up even **_**more**_** of my possible writing time. I'm also kind of trying to see how many pages I can read this summer. I've got one and a half months left of summer and I've read 2,000 pages so far. Yes, I'm a freak, but I'm a freak who finally updated! There's a plus!**

**Next chapter will (might) be up soon!**


	15. The Dream

**FYI, we found the dogs, so you don't have to look anymore…..lol! I'm a dork!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 15**

**The Dream**

_It started out with me falling. And falling. And falling more until I fell hard onto what felt like grass. I looked left, right, up and down, but saw nothing there but blackness. Finally a light appeared, dim at first but becoming brighter. Finally I could see around me. It was a field, full of all kinds of flowers. Fang was just ahead of me, lifting a little girl into the air and spinning her around in circles. I ran toward Fan, smiling._

"_Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" the little girl cried, "Daddy said we could pick strawberries today!"_

"_OK, Natalie!" I said. I took one of my daughters' hands and Fang took the other. We began to walk out of the field of flowers and to a large bush._

_We were just about to reach the bush when Ari appeared in front of me. But Ari…Ari had been dead a long time, now, hadn't he?_

_My jaw dropped. I looked at Fang, who suddenly looked seven years younger. He wasn't holding Natalie's hand anymore. But Natalie wasn't Natalie anymore, either. She had turned into Angel. Angel as a 6-year-old. Nudge was by my side, and she wasn't 18, but 11. And Gazzy and Iggy lagged behind, Gazzy as an 8-year-old and Iggy as a 14-year-old._

_And suddenly I wasn't in my body anymore. I was far away, watching myself leap into battle with the Erasers._

_I watched as an Eraser grabbed Angel and stuffed her into a bag. I went to run to help, but I couldn't move my legs. So I had to watch as the 14-year-old me fought back the Erasers, unaware that my youngest flock member was being taken until Angel shouted out, "MAX!!!!!!"_

I sat upright in bed, with Angel's scream still echoing in my head. I looked around the room, but I wasn't surprised to see that no one was there but me. My wrists and ankles were tied to the bed with heavy Velcro straps to prevent me from leaving. There was a blackboard that had numbers and letters on it. I squinted to look at it. At the very top I could make out the words "Max," "Fang," and "pregnancy." There were numbers and calculations below that, but the words were too small for me to see.

That was about the time I realized they had been tracking my pregnancy. Tracking and marking and taking measurements. How, I had no idea. But they had.

The door opened and two whitecoats wheeled two other hospital beds into the room and set them on either side of mine. They wordlessly pushed me down into a lying position and left the room.

The person on the bed on my right shifted a little. "Hey!" I snapped at the body, "Hey! Wake up!" I gasped as he lifted his head so it was in my view. "Fang!" I cried happily.

"Hi," Fang said, but he didn't sound so happy.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "What happened? Why are you here? Where's everyone else?"

"Which question do you want answered first?" he asked and for a second I saw a hint of amusement on his face.

"Um…what happened," I told him.

"After they took you, the Erasers cleared out of the place," Fang started, "Iggy and I pretty much crashed. We all drank way too much," I nodded, "But the rest of the flock didn't wake us up. I think they tried though. I have a vague memory of kicking Gazzy in the head when he tried to get me to wake up…Anyway, in the morning, I woke up earlier than anyone else, so I left on my own. Well, at least I _thought_ I was alone," my eyes darted to the body on my left, "Natalie saw me and followed me. I stopped for some food a little ways in and she caught up. Scared the sh – crap out of me when I saw her."

Natalie sat up on my left side.

"You shouldn't've…" I said quietly.

"What?" Fang asked, "Max…"

"You shouldn't've come. Now we're all…" I was having trouble finding the words to describe my feelings, "we're all…here…I'd rather be at the bottom of the ocean with no hope of surviving than here. I can handle it, though. But Natalie…and you…here…I don't want that…" Tears began to roll down my cheeks.

"Max, I had to," Fang said, "I…I couldn't lose you." He looked away to avoid my gaze, but I think I heard his voice break.

I didn't know what to say. I closed my eyes as tight as I could and tried to control the tears that were falling.

"No one could've stopped me," Fang added.

"I believe you," I said finally, "I'm not mad."

"Mommy where are we?" I heard Natalie ask.

I didn't know whether I should tell the truth or lie. Finally I said, "We're at a place called the School, Natty. But don't worry. We won't be here long. The rest of the flock will come and rescue us."

As I finished the words I realized my words sounded much more reassuring than I felt.

**BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! I got my next door neighbor into Maximum Ride!!!! Bwa hahahaha!!!**

**By the way, have any of you seen the commercial for Maximum Ride The Movie? I have…it's pretty good. The person they chose for Max looks the part. Except she has blue eyes. How can she have blue eyes??????? Her dark eyes are what show that Dr. Martinez is her momma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	16. Author's Note

**I'm sorry to all of you who thought "YAY!!!! AN UPDATE!!! FINALLY!!!!" but this is not an update. Sorry. I had a total brain fart on ideas and I think I'm going to chop off the last few chapters and call it quits. I've been working on a Twilight story and another Max Ride story, so I just don't have time to update this as frequently as I should. I really don't have any ideas on where to go from here, so unless any of you have some major brilliant plan and/or a magical writers' block cure, I don't have anything to offer you at this point. Once again, I'm sorry.**

**Here are your options:**

**A) chop off chapters 13, 14 and 15 because there's a new plot I never finished**

**B) leave it as is and possibly never finish**

**I need you guys to help me out here. I'm stuck like a fly in chocolate! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**-Appreciating Your Ideas-**

**-Alyson May Who is The Fly Eating the Chocolate She's Stuck In-**


	17. A New Plan

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 16**

**A New Plan**

No one came into the lab room for the rest of the day. I was kind of relieved since that way my baby would be saved from cruel experiments but then again, I was bored out of my mind and would rather have someone to piss off than lie here, strapped to a table in a room where a bunch of geeks had been tracking my pregnancy.

Finally, the next morning the doorknob shook and someone walked inside. It was a woman. She walked over to the side of Fang's table and smiled down on the three of us.

"Good morning! I'm glad to see you and your family looking so well, Max!" the woman said.

I said nothing.

"So, how've things been since we last spoke?" she smiled.

Last spoke? I'd talked to this woman? And she expected me to remember her by name? "When was that?" I snapped.

"When you were 14," she reminded me, "When the By-Half Plan failed."

I turned and glared at her. After another long pause I said, "Who _are _you?"

"You don't remember?" she said, sounding hardly heartbroken.

I thought hard and after a long pause I said, "Marian Janssen. The Director."

She beamed wider and said, "Yes, Max. And Fang and little Twen! My, my, how she's grown! You've been such a great mother to her!"

Twen. I sighed and shook my head, trying not to scoff. "OK, now that everyone knows everyone, tell me why I'm here," I snapped.

"You are here to complete a new plan that I am not yet qualified to tell you," the Director answered, "But trust me, it is much more foolproof than the previous plan. And this time, you will have no choice other than to obey. If not…well, you'll find out soon enough."

"I won't do it," I said.

"Oh, yes, you will," the Director said, her cheerfulness fading, "But enough about that. I've got a video to show the three of you." She stood and turned on a TV that had probably been brought into the room overnight since it wasn't there yesterday. A video began to play.

The video was very shaky. At first it was pointed at a bunch of Erasers. Then all of the Erasers turned their heads to look out the front window and a voice said, "We're here."

The Erasers got out of the van and began to walk toward a building that looked extraordinarily like our home, the Mammoth Inn. The front Erasers pounded on the door twice, and with the force he used I wouldn't have been surprised if he knocked the door down. Nobody came to the door, so the Eraser opened it and let himself in.

Inside, the remaining members of my flock had been sitting in the front room. Iggy and Nudge had been sitting together on the reception desk and Angel and the Gasman had been sprawled out on the floor. When the Erasers came in, Iggy and Nudge jumped of the desk and Angel and Gazzy stood at the ready.

One Eraser came at Iggy and Nudge. He swung his legs behind theirs. Nudge jumped and avoided it, but Iggy, of course, couldn't see the attack and fell to the ground but was up before the Eraser could do any real damage. The Eraser then spun around and punched Nudge in the nose. Nudge punched the Eraser up the underside of his chin as Iggy kicked him square in the chest.

Then Angel's voice called from somewhere off to the left, "IGGY! NUDGE!"

The camera swung over to show Angel and Gazzy surrounded by a dozen or so Erasers. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed two of them holding duct-tape. Nudge ran over to them and knocked two of their heads together, knocking both Erasers out. Then she snapped at the two siblings, "What the hell are you doing?! Fight back!!" The thought had apparently not occurred to the two.

Angel immediately went into action. She mentally killed a few of them, and physically killed a few at the same time. My heart swelled for the girl, but I worried for the outcome.

More just kept coming. The flock, I could tell, was getting tired. As a new group of Erasers hurried inside, Iggy shouted, "Hey! Start making your way outside! We'll lose them by air!" Iggy, Gazzy and Angel managed to get outside OK, but as far as I could see, Nudge was not with them.

A high-pitched scream came from inside and the camera swung around again, this time to show Nudge being carried outside, tied up with the tape. Iggy ran to help Nudge get free, but the Erasers managed to capture him, too. I scanned everywhere for Angel or Gazzy, but I couldn't see them anywhere. The video ended and a blue screen popped up, saying, "STOP" in the top-left corner.

I held my breath. Nudge. Iggy. Most likely on their way here.

"What's the plan?" I asked, aiming my question at the Director and not Fang or my daughter. Fang's eyes snapped to me, although I was staring hard at the Director and only saw it out of the corner of my eye. Natalie looked at me, too. Her eyes portrayed her fear.

"I told you. I am not allowed to tell you yet," she said. She looked a little pleased in my interest.

I sighed in anger and frustration.

"Do you really want to know?" the Director asked me. She was toying with me now. I was her puppet.

"Yes," I answered.

Her eyes flashed in excitement and enjoyment, "Here is my plan. You will mate with Fang."

_Mate? _What were we, _animals?_ I mentally stopped myself. I didn't want an answer to that question.

"And we will train your avian children to become warriors for us!" she shouted in triumph.

"I won't do it," I told her, "Not in a million years. I got pregnant once and hated it. You can't get me to do it."

"There are ways" was the Director's simple answer.

Natalie began to scream, and my head shot in her direction in alarm. She trashed wildly around in on her hospital bed, unable to get away because she was strapped down.

"Stop!" I cried, "Stop it! Whatever you're doing, just _stop!!!_"

The Director smiled wickedly and Natalie stopped screaming, her breathing still erratic and tears still streaming out of her gorgeous brown eyes. "You'll do whatever I say," the Director snapped, "She has a chip in her brain, like you _used_ to have in your arm. Except if you try to take this one out, she'll _die._ In fact, if you continue to resist, I can kill her now, slowly and painfully."

"No!" I cried, "No, I'll do what you say!" I said. I was fighting back tears. I wanted to reach out and hold my daughter, but that was impossible. I choked down my sadness with anger and said, "I'll do it – whatever you want. Just please, _please_ let her go."

"We can't do that," the Director snapped, "But thank you for your cooperation." And with that, she left me.

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated. But I thought up a new course of action and I'm going to finish up this idea and then close the story. I just can't chop off the chapters. I worked so hard on it and now it's finally getting close to the end! I think this is my longest story yet, too! Again, I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever, but now I have an idea and Thanksgiving and Christmas break is coming up, so I'll have time!!!!! I am also playing a small part in my drama club's performance of A Christmas Carol. I'm very excited, although I only have one line!**


	18. Too Late

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I **_**do**_** own Natalie, Is and Rik. Steal them and die.**

**Chapter 17**

**Too Late**

A Nickelback song ran though my head as we – Fang and I – were led through a maze of halls the next day. I felt ashamed. I felt like a whore. I was embarrassed. They were going to _monitor_ us as we…you know. Not in the same room, but they'd check on us via computer every now and then.

A door was opened to a new room. Just the look of it gave me a headache. The walls were white. The ceiling was white. The bedsheets on the queen sized bed were white. The only color in the entire room was the black tiles complementing the white ones on the floor and a vase of red roses.

I sat on the bed with Fang. To give us some 'entertainment' they played music out of the intercom. The first song, ironically enough, was the Nickelback song I'd been thinking of. _Animals_.

_I, I'm driving black on black  
Just got my license back  
I got this feeling in my veins this train is coming off the track  
I'll ask polite if the devil needs a ride  
Because the angel on my right ain't hanging out with me tonight_

I leaned in to kiss him, make sure he knew I wasn't just doing this because we had to, although I was sure he already knew that. He kissed me back passionately, and I was sure I could hear applauding in the room next door. My hand reached for his shirt, beginning to slide it up.

"You don't have to do this," Fang said, pushing my face away from his and gently releasing my grip on his shirt.

"Yes, I do," I mumbled. I stared at my knees again. I fought back tears.

"Max, don't do this just because they tell you you have to," Fang said. He draped his arm over my shoulders and I had to fight harder to keep the tears at bay, "We'll get through this. All of us will. And all of us will get through it alive and together as a family."

"Fang, no," I said, "The chip. They will always have control over us with that. If we leave, they can attack her without even being _near_ her. The only thing we can do is what they say."

"Max, don't give up," Fang said, but his argument wasn't as spirited as before.

"Fang!" I snapped, "Don't you see? We can't win! Never! Not with this power they have! They'll hold it over our heads until…" I gulped, scared to say the words, "until she dies," I finished, whispering now.

Fang stared into my eyes, boring deep into my soul. We stayed that way for a long time. I didn't look away until I realized the song _Animals _had ended. A new song was on. This song was old, too. **((A/N: Remember, this is quite a ways in the future)) **I sighed in despair and laid my head in the crook of Fang's neck.

_This world will never be  
What I expected  
And if I don't belong  
Who would have guessed it  
I will not leave alone  
Everything that I own  
To make you feel like it's not too late  
It's never too late_

He kissed the top of my head first, then placed his finger under my chin to lift my head. I stared into his dark eyes and thought about how much I loved him. His lips met mine and they moved together.

_Even if I say  
It'll be alright  
Still I hear you say  
You want to end your life  
Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late_

I tried to forget about Natalie. Forget about Iggy. Forget about Nudge. I wanted to focus solely on enjoying my time with Fang as they allowed it. Who knew the next time I'd be able to kiss him and hold him and feel his body press against mine? This time as I lifted his shirt away, he didn't restrain me.

_No one will ever see  
This side reflected  
And if there's something wrong  
Who would have guessed it  
And I have left alone  
Everything that I own  
To make you feel like  
It's not too late  
It's never too late_

We rolled around in the sheets, stripped of everything but our underwear. The kiss was sad and slow. Neither of us wanted to take it further. Someone pounded at the door and shouted, "Hurry up!"

"You ready?" Fang whispered in my ear.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I answered.

And with that, the last of our clothes were dropped on the floor. I couldn't enjoy this. The only thought on my mind was, "You're going to get pregnant. You're going to get pregnant."

_Even if I say  
It'll be alright  
Still I hear you say  
You want to end your life  
Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late_

We paused again just before he started. He looked me hard in the eyes and kissed my now empty belly before proceeding with what had to be done. I sighed in sorrow and let my tears out onto his bare chest. The song continued to play and time seemed still.

_The world we knew  
Won't come back  
The time we've lost  
Can't get back  
The life we had  
Won't be ours again_

_This world will never be  
What I expected  
And if I don't belong…_

The lyrics were so true. I think I even vaguely remembered seeing the music video on YouTube a while back. There was someone with wings in it, I remembered. I related to the video.

But one bit of the lyrics proved wrong. It _was_ too late. Too late to fix the mistake I'd made five years ago. I didn't know if I could say I regretted it. Natalie had been the best possible thing that could've happened to me. I couldn't live if I ruined her life. She hadn't ruined mine. I couldn't bring myself to think that. She had just made me take a detour.

_Even if I say  
It'll be alright  
Still I hear you say  
You want to end your life  
Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late (It's never too late)  
It's not too late  
It's never too late_

It _was_ too late, I reminded myself. Because the song ended just as Fang began to get dressed again. I wondered what was going on in my body, as I lie there naked on the covers. I buried my head in the pillow but didn't cry. I would be pregnant again, whether it happened this time or another. They would take my child.

I felt helpless. Where had the courage I'd had 10 years ago gone? I was 24 now, shouldn't I be more courageous, smarter and stronger than before?

I thought of my unborn baby yet. I thought of the sex ed class I'd had at my little bit of schooling while with Anne Walker. My child would not even have a gender. It was an it, as much as I hated to admit that.

I rested my head on my knees and the song came into my head again, even though it was over. It _was_ too late, I told myself again. I repeated it, over and over, until I wanted an off button.

It _was_ too late. They'd take my baby. They'd train it. Maybe they'd use it to kill me. And it'd all started with one forgotten condom. It was much too late. And there was nothing I could do to change that.

**Sorry to go all serious on you, but you had your laughs eariler. I'm going to close this story and others, if I haven't already said, and I want to make these last chapters count. I have a plan, peoples! Be very proud! I will get through will my plan and then it is OVER! NO MORE! lol But I'm not yet sure how many chapters that will take. I'm guessing anywhere from 6 to 8 more chapters. Don't go getting all happy. You know me. You know I'll forget to update as usual. So don't let that happen! Update and PM me so much I get pissed! Then I write!**

**-Alyson May In a Better Mood-**

"**Animals" lyrics belong to Nickelback**

"**Never Too Late" lyrics belong to Three Days Grace**


	19. Realization

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I do not own Maximum Ride. I do not own Maximum Ride. God, I feel like I got in trouble and I'm writing lines for a teacher!**

**Chapter 18**

**Realization**

I sat on the edge of my bed in my room in the School. It remained locked at all times, day or night. I shared the room with Fang and Natalie, which was _much_ better than a locked cage. The room was about the size of your average bedroom. It had a single queen sized bed for all three of us, a desk and a television. On the desk sat a brand-new computer, but all of the blogging, emailing and any communication websites were blocked. We had a ton of gaming websites and even more websites telling how Plan Avian-Regeneration, as they were now calling it, was the fix to every problem.

It was four months since the conception. I was pregnant.

Iggy and Nudge were in the keeping room, in dog crates. They hadn't caught on that Iggy and Nudge were as close as they were, so they weren't being forced to have children. I didn't think they knew the plan, but I couldn't be sure. I hadn't even seen them since we were captured.

That day, something new happened. It all started when my little five-year-old daughter came up to me and said, "Mommy? Why is your belly so big?"

I smiled sadly and took her into my lap, cradling her in my arms in a way I hadn't done since she was a baby, "Honey, I'm not sure you're old enough to tell you everything, but the basics are that I'm going to have another baby."

"Oh," Natalie said. Then she held her head in agony. I knew exactly what was going on. They were hurting her to get to me. It wasn't the people from the School. It was the Erasers who kept watch and hurt Natalie every now and then just for the hell of it. I hated them, but there was nothing I could do. What can you say when your daughter becomes used to the slicing pain that occurs at random in her brain? She didn't even scream anymore. She just let fat tears drip down her cheeks. So did I.

Fang came to join us. He'd been at the computer, typing a journal entry on the computer. He draped his arm over my shoulders and used his thumb to wipe away the tears from both our eyes. It was silent.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. The door opened, and a small doctor came in, followed by two Erasers. "Max," he said, "It's time for your check-up." I grumbled and went to the door, but I knew these were mandatory. He led me through a maze of hallways to a lab room, where I was told to lie on the table. The Erasers stood by the door, guarding me from leaving.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm in a lab," I answered, "How do you _think_ I feel?"

He ignored my sarcasm, "Nausea? Diarrhea?"

I sighed in annoyance and answered sincerely, "Morning sickness. But that's it."

"OK," he said. He wrote that down on his paper. He looked back to me and said, "You know that your baby will be born in two months, according to your last pregnancy. We still don't know its gender, so we're going to take a scan and do that now."

He did the scan thingy and then came back.

"Well?" I asked, my patience for the day shot.

"You're having a boy," he told me. I nodded, but smiled on the inside. A boy would be nice.

The door opened and a woman walked in. It was the Director, I realized. I stiffened and grumbled to myself. She smiled at the Erasers and doctor and then came to step in front of me.

"Maximum," she addressed me.

"Mother Fucker," I addressed her back.

She closed her eyes, fuming silently and then opened them and spoke, "You have given us less trouble than we expected, Maximum." She paced around me, examining every inch of me, right down to the swollen ankles.

"And?" I prompted.

"We were wondering," she continued, "why?"

I glared at her. How did she not understand? "Because if I don't, you'll kill my daughter," I answered her.

She paused in front of me and looked me in the eye, "That's right. But why should you care? You're going to make so many more children just like little Twen in the years to come. What's one child among all others?"

"My daughter, _Natalie_, is one of the six most important people in my entire life! If you were to take her away from me, I feel certain I would die!" I paused to take a breath, "And why do you care if I haven't given you trouble? Should I be giving you trouble? Would you _prefer_ I attempt to break out? To try to ruin all you've forced upon me?"

The Director _tsk_ed under her breath. She looked at the Erasers and nodded. They smirked and one spoke very quietly into his radio thing.

From down the hall, I heard a bloodcurdling scream. I didn't have to ask to know whose it was. I choked on a scream myself as tears poured from my eyes. I ran for the door, but the two Erasers caught and restrained me as more came to help.

"NATALIE!" I screamed, hoping people in China, halfway across the world, could hear me, "NATALIE! STOP IT!! STOP HURTING HER! JUST STOP! SHE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING! I'M OBEYING YOU! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? I'M PREGNANT WITH ANOTHER CHILD BEFORE I'M EVEN TWENTY-FIVE! AND MY CHILD IS IN THERE, BEING TORTURED FOR NOTHING! WHAT DID I EVEN _DO_ TO YOU? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ACCEPT THAT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO BE MUTATED! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE JAMMED A CHIP IN YOUR BRAIN AND WINGS IN YOUR BACK AND TOLD YOU IT WAS YOUR DESTINY TO SAVE THE WORLD? HUH? AND WHAT IF YOU WERE FIVE? THAT CHILD HAS DONE NOTHING! _NOTHING!_ AND YET YOU CONTINUE TO TORTURE HER AS IF SHE WERE AN ANT AND YOU WERE THE STUPID SEVEN-YEAR-OLD WITH A MAGIFYING GLASS! SHE AND I ARE SMALL, SO YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KICK US AROUND, BUT YOU _DON'T_! WE ARE HUMAN, WHETHER NINTY-SEVEN PERCENT OR ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT, WE _ARE_ HUMAN! AND WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH WAY MORE SHIT IN OUR LIVES THAN YOU EVER WILL! SO WHY CAN'T YOU GET AN OUNCE OF HUMANITY AND LEAVE US ALONE!"

I ended my rant by falling to my knees and crying into my palms. I couldn't get to my baby. I couldn't help her. I had to sit here and listen to her scream and cry and be in pain for nothing.

Whether he was told to or not, I didn't know, but one of the Erasers spoke into his radio again and Natalie's screams ended.

"Take her back to her room," the Director said. Her face was hard as stone, but I realized that my words may have had the slightest effect on her. I let them lead me, too broken to try to run.

What had happened to the strong 14-year-old I'd once been? I didn't know. All I knew was that my life wasn't what it was meant to be.

**8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8**

**Sorry for shortness but the next chapter will make up for it. Maybe. Ummmmm…about my life? I'm reading Twilight over for the fifth time! Yippee! And I got four more people into it!!!!! Anyways, I'm going to be in our version of A Christmas Carol for drama club and I'm very excited. Hope you enjoyed my chapter!**

**Also, I bet some of you are wondering why I went from posting strictly once a week to posting every day. Well, I just know that I'm going to get caught up in my own stuff and not have time to post, so I'm trying to take advantage of this 'writing high' if you will.**

**I'm going to be working on this one and ditching 'When a Winged Girl Meets a Magic Boy' for the moment. I just want to get this _done_.**

**-Alyson May Who Just Got Her Hair Cut-**


	20. Fight for What is Right

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Chapter 19**

**Fight for What is Right**

The days passed slowly. I was never certain exactly what each day would bring. Would the Director feel my sympathy that day, as she had begun to? Or would she ignore me brutally and give me tests that stretched me mentally and physically as far as I could go? Would she attack my daughter ruthlessly? How would Fang react to everything? Every day was filled with impossible-to-answer questions.

Two months later, on a windy fall day unlike the bright summer one my daughter had been born on, I was carted to a white room. Fang and Natalie were allowed to come, although Natalie sat on a chair and stared out the window. Three hours, several bags of ice and even more nurses later, my little boy was cleaned up and handed to me wrapped in a blanket.

"His name will be Alpha," the doctor grinned, "He will be even better than Omega."

I shook my head. I wouldn't fight them over it. I was sure my birth certificate didn't say "Maximum Ride" on it either. It didn't matter. _I_ knew what his name was.

I cradled my baby close to my body as all but four Erasers left to give my family some privacy before they stole my child away.

"You're not really going to let them call him Alpha, are you?" Fang asked, walking over and lying down beside me.

"Hell, no!" I responded, "We agreed."

Fang smiled down at me and smoothed our little boy's hair, "Aiden Ride." He looked up suddenly at me and said, "Did you know the other day when I was bored, I looked up the meaning of all of our names and their genders?" He pulled a piece of notebook paper from his pocket and showed it to me.

_Max – Little Maximus (boy)_

_Maximus – The greatest (boy)_

_Fang – fragrant, pleasant (girl)_

_Natalie – Christ's birthday (girl)_

_Aiden – Little fire (boy)_

I snickered, "Fang is a girl's name?"

He scowled and snapped, "Max is a boy's name."

"Yes, but I knew that already," I mumbled, "Natalie means Christ's birthday. Hm…I don't know what to make of that. I mean, I guess it fits her. She's such a quiet girl." I looked over to where Natalie sat on the bench, staring out the window with a glazed look on her face. I continued, "I can't believe she's almost six."

We both smiled at our children until Fang pointed at Aiden, "Look, he's awake!"

Aiden's little eyes fluttered open, and it was the first time I'd seen them. His hair was black but looked almost more like a dark red, and his eyes were a warm brown, much like mine. He stared up at me with knowing eyes. I stared down at him with longing ones. Because at that moment, the door opened and the doctor, along with more Erasers than I thought could fit in a room already this small, came in the door.

"Give me Alpha," the doctor demanded. I clutched him to my chest. Natalie screamed, but not because they were attacking her with the chip. An Eraser had hold of her wrist, trying to drag her to the door. Fang jumped out of his seat beside me and went to help her.

I rolled over so Aiden was underneath me, and I used my entire body to protect him. I kissed his thin hair, wiping the tears that fell from my eyes off of his face.

I felt claws on my back, ripping the t-shirt I'd changed into after Aiden was born. It tore into my back and I felt the Eraser clawing at my wings. I hoped they wouldn't be permanently damaged, but Aiden was more important.

"STOP!" a voice hollered. I recognized it as the Director's. She leaned down beside me and whispered in my ear, "Do you really want this for your baby? Keep going and they won't have a mother at all. And Natalie. They're going to tear her to shreds."

I was surprised that she used Natalie's real name. She sounded like she regretted harming Natalie, but I was beyond caring. "Then stop them. And it's not like you'll let me see Aiden after you've brainwashed him anyway."

The Director backed off. An Eraser, impatient, grabbed the collar of my torn shirt and yanked me up. I stared into his angry eyes and hoped the fear I felt wasn't shown in my eyes.

Everything went very fast after that.

I heard a scream off to the right.

The Eraser released me and went to see what happened.

Fang came shooting out of the left of the mob and hit the wall.

The scream became more poignant, raising several octaves.

I jumped off the bed racing to the mob and trying to break through, a pointless effort.

The screaming suddenly ceased.

The Erasers gathered around something, pulling closer to each other. I shoved and finally made my way to the front.

I've been pretty scared before, but nothing was anything compared to this.

A tiny body lay crumpled before me. I straightened it from the unnatural position it was in. I prayed that it wasn't the little girl I'd gotten so used to hearing laugh, to hearing scream from the attacks aimed at her brain that haunted her sleep at random moments…

I brushed the chocolate hair away from the little girl's eyes and saw the near-black eyes still open, confirming my worst fear.

**8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8**

**Sorry it was so short again, but I wanted to stop there for timing alone. The rest will be up later, but I was sadly depressed by your reviewing on the last chapter. Not cool, man, not cool. Anyways, read, review and read more! Ah, such a vicious circle!**

**-Alyson May Is Reading Twilight for the Fifth Time and Thinks She Already Said That…Huh…-**


	21. Buttercups

**Dsielamcir: Mumaixm Rdie bnogels to Jmeas Preosattn. Can you raed tihs? Bucsaee, yes, I did maen to sercw it up lkie tihs.**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Buttercups**

"NO!" I screamed. I cradled my still-alive baby in my arms. I laid my head on Natalie's chest and cried into it.

The Erasers gasped in shock, but I hardly noticed. I didn't take notice of anything until I felt a soft hand touch my shoulder and hold me close. Fang. He cried softly, the tears just rolling down his cheeks and not making a sound.

I heard footsteps behind me, and the Director's furious voice shout, "What happened?"

"We didn't mean to kill her, ma'am," an Eraser said.

"She's _dead_?!" Shocked, now.

"I'm s…," the Eraser tried to continue, but the Director cut her off.

"Well, how did it happen?!" she shrieked, "Did you overuse the chip or did you kill her with your own hands?"

"I think the chip weakened her and then Jared killed her," the Eraser spoke again.

"ARGH!!!!!!!!" the Director shouted, "OUT! OUT! GET OUT! ALL OF YOU!" The Erasers cleared the room and I thought I heard her mutter, "Stupid, uncontrollable Erasers." She wandered over and sat on the edge of the bed and plopped down.

I handed Aiden to Fang and stood up, slamming the door beside me and locking it from the inside, then sliding a door up under it to keep it locked. The Director's face was in her hands, and she didn't look up. I stomped over to her and slapped her. _Hard._

She looked up at me, shocked. Her eyes were angry, but they were beginning to portray her fear. She glared at me as she snapped, "What was that for?!"

"_You_ killed her!" I said, not yelling but not making an effort to quiet my voice either, "It's all _your _fault that she's dead!"

"No, it's not!" the Director argued. A weak argument, if you ask me.

I brought my face close to hers and let the acid drip from my words, "If not for you, that child could have lived a normal life. She could have grown up and had kids. But, no. Instead she lies motionless on the floor in a lab room. Would you have wanted this if you were five?"

She glared back and said, "If not for me, that child would not be alive."

I stared back, surprised, but not letting that show.

"You'd have never met Fang," she explained, her voice wavering a bit for fear of infuriating me.

"Doesn't matter," I said quietly, "She's not alive anymore. And it _is_ your fault."

"Is not!" the Director shouted, "If you just did what you were told –"

"Who brought her here?!" I snapped, "Who put the fucking chip in her brain?! Whose Erasers beat her to death?!"

The Director was quiet. She had no response. I was right, and she knew it. Even if she was right that I never would've met Fang if not for her, she knew she helped a great deal with Natalie's death.

Someone pounded on the door. I turned to Fang and said, "Could you hold that?" He stood and leaned against the door, using all of his weight to hold it shut.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, scared stiff.

"You'll see," I assured her darkly. I was about to knock her into next Tuesday when a voice distracted me.

"Max!" it called, "Max! It's me, Angel! Max, we're all here! Let us in!"

"Are you alone?" I called over my shoulder. I wouldn't let my eyes leave the Director.

"For now, yes!" the Gasman shouted from the outside, "Max, let us in! They're coming!"

Fang opened the door and the rest of my flock came in. Fang resumed holding the door closed and the Gasman helped. It took them a moment to notice the small girl lying on the floor beside Fang's feet.

"Max…is she…?" Angel asked. I nodded. Nudge and Angel broke into tears. Gazzy stared in shock.

"Who?" Iggy asked, his voice frantic.

"Natalie, Iggy," I told him, "Natalie…died."

"Iggy," Angel said quietly, "Pick her up. It's not right – her being on the floor. It's like she's a doll or something." Angel took Iggy's hand and led him to Natalie on the floor. Iggy obeyed Angel and lifted Natalie off of the floor.

I continued to stare at the Director. Finally she said, "Are you going to kill me or what?"

I sighed angrily and said, "I would, but my family is here. I don't think my newborn son should see that." I got close to her face and nearly whispered, "But if you continue to mess with my family, I swear to God, I _will_ kill you. I will rip you limb from limb and deliver your dismembered body to the School so they can see what happens when you piss me off."

The Director gulped and nodded.

"Let's go," I said sourly. We walked to the window and jumped out, flying through the rain. It was cold, and the wind blew at us furiously, but no one dared ask to stop. They all knew how pissed off I was and probably feared I'd dismember and ship their body to the School at this point.

We'd gone a long ways before I finally couldn't take it anymore. I dove down into a clearing in the vast trees and broke down into sobs. I let the rain fall down my back enough to soak me through the wind whistled through the trees.

After five or so minutes of uncontrollable tears, the rational side of my brain took over and I began to question…everything. Was Aiden alright? Who had Aiden? Would he catch a cold with the rain? How about the others? Had they all gotten out? Where were they?

I tried to lift my head, but found I couldn't. I didn't feel at all in control of my mind. I literally felt out of my mind.

Someone's hand brought me back to the surface and I looked up to see who it was.

Fang. Of course. I buried my head back in my hands, not wanting him to see the tear-streak that had undoubtedly formed.

"Where are the oth-others?" I asked, my voice shaking from crying so hard.

"I sent them to find a hotel," Fang told me, "Nudge has Aiden. He cries surprisingly little for a newborn baby."

"W-w-why?" I asked, "Shouldn't we t-tr-try to stay inconsp-sp-spic-icuous?"

"Max, you need a warm place to spend the night. It's pouring out," Fang told me.

I finally lifted my head and looked him in the eyes. "F-F-Fang," I stuttered.

"I'm here, Max," he said. I fell into his arms. He wrapped them tightly around me and patted my back gently.

"Sh-sh-she's gone," I gasped out, "I wanted her to have a g-good, long life, b-but she's g-g-gone."

"Max–," he started, but I didn't give him the chance to finish.

"It's all m-my fault, isn't it?" I asked him, "It's m-my fault she d-di-died. I should have been watching her more. I was t-too preoccupied with Ai-d-den."

"I thought you decided it was the Director's fault," he reminded me.

"It was," I agreed, "But it was mine, too."

We sat in silence for a long time. Finally, I said, "Where is she?"

"Iggy and Nudge buried her under a tree the cemetery," he said, "Nudge and Angel are planning a funeral as we speak."

I nodded into his shoulder. "She would've liked that," I muttered. We were quiet for a while, then I said, "Fang?"

"Yeah," he said just as quietly as I had.

"We need to pick buttercups. Those were her favorites," I told him.

He nodded into my shoulder and I could feel his cheek rise into a smile, "Yeah. We'll all go out and pick some buttercups."

8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8

"Tonight we commemorate Natalie Ride, who was born on July 15, 2009 and passed on November 16, 2014," Fang said. It was twilight out. The sun was just setting, casting pinks and yellows and oranges into the sky.

"She died in battle," Angel said, "So we bought an American flag down at the store to lay over her grave." Iggy pulled an American flag sticker from his pocket and peeled the backing off of it. He stuck it on the gravestone which had been carved "Natalie Ride: 2009-2014." I smiled a little. It was so commemorative of the five-year-old who lay beneath it.

"She taught us a valuable lesson," Nudge continued, suddenly being the only one able to speak from the lumps in all of our throats, "How to have fun and fight hard. She fought hard until the end and died an unfair death."

I choked on a cry. The tears fell from where I had worked so hard to keep them in my eyes.

We spent the funeral talking about Natalie: what she liked, what she hated, funny moments, _everything._ We ended the ceremony by eating celery sticks and peanut butter, Natalie's favorite food.

That night, after everyone had gone to bed, I got up as quietly as I could and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Fang asked.

Shit! I pivoted to face him and said, "No where. Just…out…for a little while."

"Max," Fang started.

"What?"

"I don't think you should go," he said quietly.

This angered me, "Why not?!" He stayed silent. I glared at him and snapped, "What are you so afraid of?"

"You not coming back," he muttered.

I stared at him in disbelief. "You think I'm going to commit suicide?"

He nodded slowly.

"Fang, no," I said quietly, "I'm going to…see her."

He gave me a quizzical look.

"I want to spend the night by her grave," I told him quietly.

"I'll come with you," he offered.

I shook my head, "No, thank you. I need to go alone."

He looked reluctant to let me go.

"If I'm not back in a half an hour, come get me," I told him. He still looked reluctant, but nodded.

I got to the gravesite as slowly as I could. I _wanted_ to go, but then again I didn't. As I neared the tree we'd buried her under, I paused. _My baby is in the ground below me,_ I thought, _This is so wrong. How did it get this sucky?_

_Max, _the Voice said inside my head.

I glared mentally, _What? I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm going to see my dead baby. _A lump came up my throat as I said it.

_Max,_ the Voice repeated, _I – I'm sorry. I'd never have thought things would've gotten this far. I wish I could…undo it._

I sighed at him, _So do I. Now are you done?_

_No,_ Jeb said, _I just wanted to say…please don't think I didn't love Natalie like Valencia Martinez did. She was my first granddaughter, after all._

I looked at the ground, ashamed that I'd thought he would lecture me. After a long time, I said, _It's OK, Jeb. You couldn't have known._

_And Max? _Jeb continued, _I've decided to remove myself from Aiden's life completely. I don't want you to lose another child on my account._

_Jeb…_ I started. But he was already gone.

I lifted my head to look at the grave, feeling empowered by the fact that I'd hurt Jeb that much and forced him to remove himself from his grandchild's life. I strode out to the grave and stopped, staring. The lump in my throat burst out as I stared at it.

Buttercups bloomed all over it. Tears streamed from my eyes as I sat down amongst the flowers.

"Max…" I heard a whisper in the wind. My head jerked over in the direction it came from, but no one was there. I let the tears flow freely as I sat there with my daughter.

**8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8**

**It's not over yet! I'm going to have one or two more chapters as a closer, then I am going to do a Frequently Asked Questions chapter. Please don't send me your question just yet, but be thinking about them and send them in the last chapter. I will give you another reminder then.**

**I'm tired and my bro needs the compooper, so I gotta go!**

**-Alyson May Who Depressed Herself By Writing This Chapter-**


	22. Masks

**Stupid, dumb disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Aiden, Natalie, Rik and Is are mine!**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 21**

**Masks**

It was hard to move when Fang came to get me an hour later. I didn't want to leave her alone. I actually cried more when he tried to lift me from among the flowers.

"Max, we have to go," Fang said.

"Why?" I asked, tears removing all traces of force.

"We need to get distance from the School," he told me, "We're fairly sure they won't try anything for a while, but we still don't want to take a chance."

"Oh. Yeah. That." I allowed him to lift me and laid my head on his shoulder, breathing in his smell. He jumped up and began to fly. I would've flown on my own, but now I had no way of taking off without doing a complete faceplant. He flew me to a hotel, where he carried me inside our room. The flock was lounging around the room. Nudge and Iggy shared one of the queen beds. Gazzy was sprawled across the couch and tiny Angel was curled up on the armchair. Aiden lay wrapped in a blanket in a makeshift crib beside Angel's chair. The girls, especially, had tear-streaks down their faces, and it kind of hit it home how much they loved Natalie.

I crawled into the other bed with Fang and snuggled close to him. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me once. His warmth flooded into me as I kissed his neck lightly. He leaned his head down to kiss my lips softly – just once. After that…I fell asleep.

8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8

The days started off difficult to live without my first baby. But they passed, and soon, her memory wasn't the top thing on my mind. That sounds so sad, but it's true. Little things like seeing a little girl with pin-straight brunette hair didn't make me burst into tears.

Nine weeks passed. Today I woke up in a hotel bedroom in Wisconsin, pressed to Fang's bare chest. I blinked away the blurriness that came from sleeping and shrugged away Fang's arms, sitting up. I looked around the room. Everyone was gone, including my newborn baby. I began to hyperventilate when I noticed a note left on the bedside table.

_Max,_

_We went shopping for baby clothes for Aiden, so don't freak out. We're also gonna get some formula and diapers. We'll be back around four. By the way, your baby hardly cries at all. I think there's something wrong with it…_

_Iggy_

I would've been suspicious if not for the fact that the note was so Iggy-ish. I looked forward to a day by myself with Fang…

Fang sat up just then, and I looked over to meet his eyes. "They'll all be out for the day. They left a note," I told him.

"I know," he said, "They OKed it with me first."

"What?!" I cried, "Why didn't they tell me before taking my baby?"

"Because you were _out_," he explained, "Damn, I've never _seen_ you sleep so sound!"

I laughed, "Whoopsies. I'm just enjoying the current Eraser-free state that we're in."

"It's fine," he smiled. I wondered if he was thinking about the day ahead of us, too.

I glanced around instinctively, making sure no one was going to jump out as soon as our lips met, shouting, "EW!!!!" I finished my check and leaned in to him. My lips touched his softly and I smiled.

Fang felt my smile and said, "What?"

I pulled away and blushed, something I rarely did, "I don't know. Two months ago, I didn't know how life would go on…without her. But, now…it's OK. I realize that it's just how it was meant to be. And, I miss her, but I can't stop living my life even though she stopped living hers," I shook my head, "No. That sounds selfish…" I started to continue, but Fang touched my cheek softly to stop me.

"It's alright. She'd want you to be happy," he paused, hesitated, and stared at me solemnly, "You _are_ happy, aren't you?"

I kissed him passionately and then pulled back an inch from his lips "I'll take that as a yes," he laughed quietly.

"Take it," I whispered and continued to kiss him more.

We fell back on the bed, changing the soft kisses to a deep make-out.

"You want to?" he asked me. He smiled, though still kissing.

"Yes," I answered, smiling also.

"I've got a…" was all he could get out.

"Get it," I ordered.

He nodded and went to his jeans, which had been discarded. He pulled out his wallet and yanked a condom from them. Coming back to the bed, he put it on and we went right back to where it started.

It was the best time I'd had in a long time.

8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8

**YAY SHORT CHAPTERS!!!! Well, I updated. Sorry for shortness. It's for timing and also because I need to post a new chapter SOON. I got, like, two or three death threats.**

**I'm going to do a Question-and-Answer section at the end. If you have questions the characters, the plot, or even me that's kewl! Review or PM them to me. Please, if you have questions about my life, keep it not-too-personal. I will not tell you where I live, what I look like, where I go to school, or anything too personal. Sorry, guys.**

**-About to try calling Firediva-**

**-Alyson May-**


	23. Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 22**

**Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap!!!!!!!!**

One Month Later

I slouched down the wall of the hotel room wall from that day.

I was supposed to get my period two weeks ago.

This had only happened twice before.

Once before Natalie.

And once before Aiden.

No.

No.

No!

NO!

I WILL NOT GET PREGNANT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SICK OF THIS!!!!! IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!

"What's wrong, Max?" Nudge asked, coming out of the bathroom, still brushing her hair.

"ARGH!!!!!!!!" I screeched.

She stared at me, wide-eyed, for a second. Then she said, "Really?"

"Yes," I grumbled.

"No, really," she said, "What's wrong?"

"Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"Fang and Angel are grocery shopping. Gazzy and Iggy took Aiden to play," she told me.

"Great," I sighed, "They're probably teaching my three month old the art of bomb-making."

She laughed, "Probably." She sat on the bed across from me, "What's up?"

I sighed and stared into her eyes. "I think I'm…pregnant," I said quietly.

"Again????" she cried, "Damn, girl! I'm 19 years old and I've never been pregnant! You're 22 and you've been prego three times!" **((A/N: I made a mistake in Chapter 17, I think, when I said she was 24. She was 21 then and now she's 22.))**

I glared at her. "This isn't funny," I snapped.

"Kind of," she said. She smiled down at me.

"No."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Yeah."

"No times a million."

She stared at me, surprised for a moment. Then she said, "Yes times infinity."

I stared back for a second then said, "Shut up." I buried my head in my knees and grumbled, "But, GOD! Why me?! I mean, haven't I been through this enough?"

Nudge flushed red for a second then muttered, "Did you use a condom?"

"YES!" I cried.

She turned redder, if possible. "Did it break?" she mumbled.

"I don't know," I answered, "I wasn't exactly paying attention."

"Well, it must've," she answered, smirking now, "You're pregnant. I'm sorry."

I stared at my feet, "Yeah. But I'm not exactly sorry. I'm glad it's happening now. I mean, before the guys at Itex catch us again and force me to have another child. Maybe have three kids before I'm 25 will start menopause faster?"

"Probably not," Nudge laughed.

"Yeah, you're right," I answered, "But still. If I can make a lasting impression on him or her, then he or she will want to come back to me if they take her. Right?"

Nudge nodded.

"This is a good thing," I said, more to myself than her, "Hey, you and Iggy go out tonight. And tell Angel and Iggy to babysit Aiden. I need to tell Fang."

Nudge nodded again. There was a knock at the door and Fang and Angel came in, "Hey, guys. What's up?" he asked.

I smiled. If only you knew, I thought.

"Hey, are Iggy and Gazzy down at the park?" Nudge asked.

"Yeah," Angel answered.

"We need to go to them," Nudge told her, "Iggy and I are going out tonight and Gazzy and you are going to babysit."

"No!" Angel complained, "I have plans!"

"With who?" I asked, surprised.

"A guy…" she mumbled.

"Who?!" I persisted. Angel on a date? She'd never _been_ on a date!

"I met him in town the other day," she told me, "His name is Joshua."

"And how old is Joshua?" I asked.

"He's…seventeen," she mumbled, "But that's OK! Because when I'm 22 and he's 25 no one will care!"

"Seventeen!" I cried, "Do you know how experience that boy must have?! He could date rape you! Or finger you! He knows so much more than you!" I was about to add "You are not going out with him" but Angel cut me off.

"I am 14 years old, Max!" she shouted, "And he is a really, really nice boy who thought I was pretty and wanted to take me out! I'm not looking for a relationship here! And if he tries to rape me, don't you think I could kick his ass?" I cringed. Angel hardly ever cussed, "Or I could change his mind for him! I would use my powers on you, but that's unethical, so if you don't change _your_ mind, I will sneak out. And what's so important anyway? Are you pregnant again or something?"

I tried not to reveal my surprise of her correct guess on my face. Her eyes widened as she read my thoughts and she mumbled, "Oh. Well, Gazzy had a date, too. And she's fifteen."

"Well, that's a year younger than Gazzy," I muttered, embarrassed now.

"It's fine," Nudge interrupted, "Iggy and I will babysit. You and Fang need to talk."

"Yeah," Angel agreed, "Max? Can I go? I don't want to go without your permission. I'd feel bad."

"I guess," I muttered, "You're right. You could kick his ass or change his mind." I thought over Angel's wardrobe quickly and added, "If you want to buy a new outfit, we have quite a bit of money right now. You could do that."

Angel looked surprised, "Thanks, Max," she smiled, "I promise! Just Ross and Target and JCPenney! I'll scour the sale racks! No more than thirty dollars, I swear!" She dashed out the door, and I was glad I made her so happy.

"Hey, guys," Iggy and Gazzy came in.

"So, Gaz, who's your date?" Nudge smirked.

Gazzy looked around, stunned, "Um…her name's Sammie. How did you know?"

"Angel," I answered.

Gazzy growled in anger. "I_ can_ go, can't I?"

"Of course," I told him, "Iggy and Nudge will watch Aiden."

"Where are you going?" Gazzy asked.

"Fang and I are staying in for our…date," I answered. It wasn't really a date, but that worked.

"Alright," Gazzy said, "In that case, I promised Sammie I'd meet her in the parking lot of the hotel at four and it's…four-oh-three. Shoot. Gotta go!" He ran out the door.

"We'll take Aiden to the park," Nudge said, picking up Aiden and pulling Iggy to the door, "Have a nice time." The door shut behind them, and I stood up.

"Um…we need to talk," I said. I sounded nervous.

"What's up?" he asked.

"You should sit down," I told him. He did.

"Well…Angel was…" I hesitated, "You want some water?" I asked.

"No, thanks," he was becoming concerned.

"Oh…OK," I said quietly.

"Max?" he asked, "Is something…wrong?"

I looked at him, "How did you know?"

"I know you pretty well," he said, "What's wrong?"

"Angelwasright," I said, making it all one word.

"What?"

"Angel was right," I clarified, "I…_am_ pregnant."

"Again?" he gasped.

"Yeah," I said.

His eyes moved from mine to stare at the ground. He was quiet a long time and didn't look mad, sad or happy. To tell the truth, this was the most unemotional I'd seen him ever.

"Um…I'm not a mind-reader," I reminded him gently.

He didn't say anything. Of course.

"Soooo…what do you think?" I asked quietly.

Nothing.

"Seriously, if Angel were here, I'd be in good shape, but seeing as she's not, I need an update."

He looked up to meet my intense stare. I tried to read them, but they were emotionless.

"Hello?" I asked, smiling a little bit.

He took a step forward. _Oh, no, he's pissed,_ I thought. I'd read a book like this. The girl got pregnant and the guy beat her up because he didn't want the baby. But Fang wouldn't do that. Would he?

Another step. His arms lifted and hooked around my waist as he hugged me. I placed my hands awkwardly on his back, confused.

"You're _happy_?" I asked.

"I hope it's a girl," was all he said.

I smiled. And I was sure it was.

**8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8**

**I decided to give a special Thanksgiving update! But, you need to pay me back.**

**Firstly, I need you to think up a name you'd like Max's child to have. **_**It will be a girl.**_** Sorry to spoil the surprise, but I need names. So get over it. PM or review it to me!**

**Secondly, I need you to think up some questions for the question and answer segment at the end. I haven't gotten any. And that's not cool. PM or review it to me, also.**

**Thirdly, I need you to click that gorgeous Go button and submit a review. I was saddened by the number of reviews on the last chapter. Only nine. How could you? –insert mock disappointment here- lol Seriously, though. I **_**like **_**reviews. So just do it, please?**

**-Help Me Help You-**

**-Alyson May-**


	24. The End

**My Favorite Mistake**

**Chapter 23**

**The End.**

**Four Years Later**

I walked into my daughter's room and looked at her as she slept. How strange this all was…just four years ago my life was exciting and unpredictable. I didn't know where I would find shelter each night nor if I would live to see the next sunrise, but I knew we did the best we could. Now I could count on my home and the sunrise. My life was no different than anyone other 26-year-old's.

Except for the wings, of course.

So you're probably wondering whatever happened to me, if my life is so average now. How terrible, you'd think. But it's not so bad, really. It's just a life and I wouldn't change it for anything.

I gave birth to a wonderful baby girl exactly five months and 29 days later. Fang and I decided to name her Jade. She had gorgeous light brown hair and her eyes matched mine identically. Her wings were the color of chocolate. She was more talkative than Natalie and Aiden combined. She was hyper and opinionated, but I loved her despite it.

Fang and I settled down in a small town in California. We got full-time jobs wherever we could and bought our first house just two months ago.

As for the rest of my little flock? Well, if you'd be patient, I'd get the chance to tell you.

It didn't work out between Angel and that guy Joshua. They went out for several months and then broke it off, partly because Joshua was going off the college and partly because he cheated on Angel with another girl, she kicked his ass and he was afraid of her after that. She did, however, make a lovely connection with his best friend from high school and they've been going strong for three and a half years.

The Gasman and Sammie fell in love. They went to New York a while back and decided to live there. Sammie knows about Gazzy's wings and is perfectly fine with them. She thinks it's great when she needs something from the store and doesn't feel like facing New York traffic.

Iggy and Nudge flew off the Vegas one night and got married for 15 dollars, right there in the casino. Iggy and Nudge are going to college to get their high school and college diplomas. Nudge currently wants to be a kindergarten teacher, but that changes weekly. Iggy keeps getting calls from the FBI, asking for their assistance in bomb making, but Iggy continues to refuse. He works as a night manager for the local bank. Although he can't physically catch someone, his keen ears and touch make it easy for him to catch the criminal before they get too far.

Iggy and Nudge are expecting their own little mistake within the next few months. And by the size of Nudge's stomach, we're pretty sure it's going to be twins.

I sighed and went to the couch, sitting down. I picked up the book, I was currently reading. It was called Twilight, and, while aimed at teens, I thought it was great. I had stayed home from work today because Jade was sick with a cold and I didn't feel so hot myself. But I was not pregnant. Fang and I had been very, very, _very_ careful since then.

I was just beginning Chapter 13 when I heard, "Mom?"

I peeked over the top of my book to see my son, whose hair looked like it was caught on fire with the intensity of the red in it. He was rubbing his eye with his right fist and clutching his favorite stuffed tiger in his left arm.

"What's wrong, Aid?" I asked. I patted the sofa next to me to motion for him to come over. He walked shoddily over to me and plopped himself under my waiting arm.

"I had a bad dream," Aiden said quietly.

"Aw," I said, "Tell me about it."

"I was in a lab room," Aiden said. This made me wince, but he didn't see and continued, "You were holding me. Then all these people came in wearing white coats. You held me under you as they beat you up. Then I heard a scream and looked up and there was this little girl on the floor surrounded by wolf-men. It was very, very scary."

I fought back the tears that threatened to fall out of the corners of my eyes. He remembered it so clearly. I had a mental battle over whether to tell him that the dream was real, but decided to wait until he was older. "I'm really sorry you had such a scary dream," I told him, "But I promise you, the Era – I mean wolf-men won't ever come and get you."

He nodded into my shoulder and before I knew it, was asleep beneath my arm.

I sighed. I couldn't read _now_. But I'd take this over finding out the chronicles of Bella and Edward any day. I used the remote to the stereo to turn on the radio. They were playing an old 90s song. I only caught the end of it, but I was so glad I caught it.

_Now you're my favorite mistake.  
Yeah you're my favorite mistake.  
You're my favorite mistake._

**THERE IS THE END. I'm sorry it's over, but I needed to end it. I may or may not be doing a sequel. If I do, it may not be out for a while, so don't get your hopes up. And sorry this was such a bare-bones chapter, but I just wanted to put the info in and get DONE. Alrighty, I'm gonna go. Please review.**

**-You Make Me Happy Whenever You Call-**

**-Alyson May-**


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